It Belongs to You
by outsetislander
Summary: Seeking a place to belong, shy gymnast Bella Swan is sent to boarding school at the elite Volterra Prep. She is sent on a whirl wind of love,hardcore cheerleading,Goth nightclubs,shaved heads,fake IDs,suicidal pasts,male cheerleaders and more!BxE.AllHuman
1. All Alone

**Full Summary: Seeking a place to belong, shy gymnast Bella Swan is sent to boarding school at the elite Volterra Prep. She is sent on a whirl wind of love, hardcore cheerleading, Goth nightclubs, shaved heads, fake IDs, suicidal pasts, male cheerleaders and more! BxE,RxEm,JxA. Romance based on "River flows in you" by, Yiruma. AU. All Human.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own twilight, any of it's characters, or any song names used as titles in this entire story**

* * *

Volterra College Preparatory School. Home of the bright, the talented, and much to my chagrin, the "elite", a.k.a. the snobby rich kids who got in through bribes and school legacy alone.

I observed my new "home" with awe and overwhelming anxiety. The campus was vast and beautiful with multiple grand buildings towering proudly over the obviously professionally gardened grass. I mean, how else could something so green exist in Phoenix Arizona? There was a long patch of blue(the school color along with green) annuals professionally planted across the main lawn.

All this grand beauty however seemed to have no effect on me what so ever though, as the butterflies in the pit of my stomach seemed to be having a field day. Today is my first day at Volterra Prep. I am 16, turning 17 on the 13th and am starting my junior year. I couldn't help but feel like a freshman though as I remembered having this exact same feeling 2 years ago back in Forks when I first entered high school. Only, this was worse. Much worse. Back then I knew a few people entering my school from middle school and had the comfort knowing that every day I could just go home and just cry if need be. Boarding school however gave me no such option. I was alone in the unknown. Fresh meat ready for the taking…

My dad Charlie stopped the car then. I tried in vain to swallow the lump forming in my throat. I hadn't even realized we arrived at the front gate.

"We're here Bells! Isn't this Crazy?! Feels like I'm sending you to college already," Crazy was definitely not the word I was thinking. Terrifying. That was more like it.

"Yeah. Crazy…," I managed to squeak.

"Ah Bells…I know this is scary but I your mother and I both think it's for the best," He stated and then mumbled under his breath, "At least there's something we can agree on…".

My parents, who I now angrily referred to as Charlie and Renee, instead of mom and dad, had recently gotten a divorce. As an only child it truly tore me apart. I mean really, couldn't they have waited just two more years maybe? Until I was in college and didn't have to deal with it? Of course not. Now was the perfect time! Yeah right. I didn't want to deal with all of the custody shit. I didn't want to deal with either of them. So Charlie and Renee came up with this crazy idea that I go to boarding school while they take care of all the nitty gritty stuff. They thought it would be good for me to get away from it all.

The idea sounded fine to me at first as long as I could get away from them. I didn't have many friends I would miss anyway. What was there to loose? Now however, as I looked at the grand, intimidating campus in front of me, I realized what a huge mistake I had made. How could I have been so foolish as to let my emotions bring me to such a place? I would never fit in here. I was just a girl from Forks, Nowhere.

I got out of the car and hurried to the trunk to get my bags. I concentrated on the ground. Ground is safe. Ground won't bite me. Charlie helped me with my bags and led the way to the front office.

I allowed my self a quick glance from the corner of my eye. Students were sprawled everywhere on the grass and the terrace, either lying around chatting and laughing, or throwing footballs and frisbees around with their friends. Everyone was beautiful and perfect. Each flawless body was adorned in chic, expensive looking attire.

Yep. No way would I ever fit in here. I looked at the ground again feeling my face heat up with one of my famous blushes and ran after Charlie and into the building

The main lobby was breathtakingly beautiful. It even had a great marble fountain in the center surrounded by luscious greenery. A fountain for god's sake! What kind of school has a fountain in the lobby? I took a penny from the pocket of my jeans and threw it into the crystal clear water where it joined many others. I closed my eyes and wished for acceptance. A place to belong…

When I opened my eyes I saw Charlie talking with the receptionist and getting everything set. I walked over to his side awkwardly still looking at the floor.

"You are Isabella correct?"

I glanced up at the middle aged women behind the desk. She had on a sympathetic but hopeful smile and was staring directly at me.

"Oh yeah. Um, Bella actually,"

"Well Bella I'm sure you'll really love it here. Good luck sweetie,"

And with that she handed me a large, heavy manila folder and Charlie and I headed out. Charlie informed me I was staying in the Meyer Dormitory Complex. I was to be on the third floor, which was for girls only. Floors 1-3 were girls only and 4-6 were boys only. Floor 7 was apparently coed but, of course, each individual room was single sex. I could tell now that would be the "party floor" of our complex. It was the farthest from the dorm advisor AND it was coed. Note to self. Stay away from floor 7. When we got to Meyer, Charlie turned to me and looked me straight in the eye.

"I guess this is it Bells…I'd stay longer but I've got that plane to catch you know,"

At this point the butterflies in my stomach went completely out of control and a few tears came to my eyes. For that brief moment, I let all the resentment towards him go down the drain and I hugged him for all it was worth. I really wasn't ready to let go of my old life but yet, I had to and let go of him as well.

"I'll really miss you dad," I said semi-clearly as I felt my heart suddenly become very heavy in my chest.

"Oh I'll miss you to Bells. But I'll see you at Thanksgiving honey. Sooner if you'd like. And remember Renee and I are always here for you even if it doesn't seem like it lately. You want to come home-you got it. I'm just a phone call away sweetie. I just want you to give this school a try. I really think it will be good for you," It looked like he might cry but he was obviously trying to be a man and adult about it. He gave me one final hug and kiss and then he was gone and I was utterly alone.

* * *

I took a deep breath, picked up my bags and entered the dorm. The dorm advisor was a young girl, probably a junior or senior, with dark brown hair and glasses. She looked up at me and smiled.

"Hi I'm Angela. And you're…Isabella right?"

I looked up surprised that she knew my name.

"Well, I prefer Bella but, ho-how did you know my name?"

She noticed my expression and giggled delicately to herself.

"Well this is a junior-senior dorm and everyone else settled in yesterday. Today is for new students only and according to my roster," she picked up a clipboard with quite a few names on it, "You are the only new student assigned to Meyer".

"Oh"

I was the only new student. This wouldn't end well. Angela then seemed to notice my discomfort.

"Don't worry Bella. I'm sure you'll love it here. When I came as a freshman I thought I would absolutely hate it seeing as this school is packed with such wealthy people. I thought they would all be snobs, but turns out they're just teens like you and me looking for acceptance from their peers. Now three years later I'm a senior and I couldn't imagine going anywhere else".

Wow. She was so sweet and she made me feel so much better. Not completely, but at least I could see straight now. I could tell I would really like her.

"Thanks Angela. You have no idea how much you just helped me,"

"Glad to help," She smiled genuinely, "And think of it this way, you've already got one friend under your belt. Do you need any help getting you things to your room?"

I smiled back at her and her genuine heart of gold.

"No I think I've got it. Thanks again," I said as I waved her goodbye.

* * *

Not bothering with the stairs, I took the elevator to floor 3. I read each odd number quietly aloud to myself. 301, 303, Ah ha! 305.

The door was cracked open just slightly so I could have just went in, but I knew I had a roommate so I knocked quietly. Nothing happened so I decided to just go in assuming she wasn't there.

"Ah! Sorry!" I squealed then turned to shield my eyes. I had walked in on some couple kissing heatedly on one of the dorm beds. How embarrassing! I really didn't want any enemies already. Especially one who happened to be my roommate.

"Oh! You Must Be Isabella!" the girl said.

I turned around to face an unusually tiny girl, definitely under 5'0" tall. She had a beautiful face, short, ebony hair that spiked out in random directions, and a petite but shapely frame. When looking at her, I couldn't help but think that she looked kind of like a fairy maybe? No a pixie! Yes, she was a pixie. She wore a faded, and ripped denim miniskirt and a black band t-shirt with a name I didn't recognize. She stared at me with what looked like utter fascination and overwhelming excitement.

"Uh…well, I go by Bella actually…I'm so sorry. The door was open and-" But I was cut off with an excruciatingly bone-crushing hug and a kiss on my cheek. How could something so tiny be so powerful?

"Don't even worry about it! If anything I should be apologizing to you! PDA much! I knew you were coming, and I was waiting for you to arrive but then Jasper came in and showed me his new haircut and then… well anyway, you're here now and that's all that matters! This is so exciting! I want to know everything about you. We are going to be the best of friends!"

She grinned ear to ear at that point and hopped up and down excitedly while clapping her tiny hands at superhuman speed. I couldn't help but smile at her. She was like a small child, exuberant over the fact that Santa Claus put her at the top of his nice list.

"Wow thanks, umm…" I trailed off realizing that the exceedingly welcoming girl had yet to tell me her name, even after declaring our upcoming endless friendship status.

"Oh my God I'm such an idiot! I'm Alice. Alice Cullen," She said smiling apologetically at me and hitting her forehead.

"Well thanks Alice. You are so sweet. It's great to know I won't have to worry about a nice roommate anymore. Honestly I think I hit the jackpot in that category!"

"Oh Bella! That's so nice of you to say. I know I come on a little strong but I have a really good feeling about all of this," She said genuinely with a meaningful expression in her eyes.

"And…" She said with a triumphant smirk on her face, "I am never wrong. I swear to you I must be psychic!" We both chuckled at that.

Then I noticed the shy boy that Alice was kissing just a few moments prior to our exchange. He was standing by the bed awkwardly, but politely, with his hands locked behind his back and watching us with anxious curiosity. He was quite handsome in a curious kind of way. He had intense features which contrasted oddly with his shy demeanor. He had longish blond hair, slightly wavy, and cut in an odd, but surprisingly attractive way that framed his azure eyes beautifully. He was tall and slightly lanky with slight muscles that kept him from looking overly boyish. He was dressed in dark straight leg jeans, a blue Morrissey band t-shirt, and old beaten up canvas sneakers that were devoid of laces. Alice's eyes followed my trail of vision and when she took him in looked shocked and slightly embarrassed.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, "Jasper I'm sorry. I totally forgot you were there! It was all so exciting!" she explained apologetically.

Then turning to me she gestured toward who I now knew as Jasper, "Bella this is Jasper Whitlock, my boyfriend". I looked over to Jasper who had stepped up to offer his hand.

"Pleasure to meet you," we said in unison, eyes timidly locked.

"Jasper's not much for words with new people, but once you get to know him he's a blast!" Alice stated adoringly, smiling sincerely towards Jasper who just nodded appreciatively with a small smile in acknowledgement of his girlfriend's praise.

"Well Jazz, I kind of wanted a little one-on-one time with Bella. You know, get to know each other. Why don't we meet you for dinner?"

Jasper nodded with a smile and kissed her forehead quickly, probably grateful to get out of the slightly awkward situation.

"Bye Bella," he said sweetly. I nodded at him with a smile and he swiftly retreated. I liked him quite a lot so far. Very sweet…didn't feel the need to make worthless small talk… my kind of person. We would get along just fine.

Alice turned her attention back to me.

"Need help unpacking? All mine's done. We can get to know each other AND get work done. Kill two birds with one stone! Only not literally of course 'cause that's mean and I'm a vegetarian."

I chuckled. She was so funny and cheerful. I'd never known a person so pleasant to be around. She kept the conversation going and going with random things such as favorite foods to favorite bands. I spoke openly and even added quite a lot to the conversation. I was never one to talk much before I met Alice. Now words just flowed like a river from my lips. In terms of interests we seemed to be polar opposites but I liked that about her. She liked shopping; I hated shopping. She liked dance music; I liked rock music. Her favorite color was pink; mine was green and so on and so forth. As they always say opposites attract. We were both so fascinated with each other and I smiled slightly at the silly idea that anyone could actually be interested in boring old me.

"So you play any sports Bella?" Alice asked as she organized my not-so-extensive closet with a frustrated little pout. I had this feeling in the pit of my stomach dreading the day when she would force me to go shopping with her to fix what she considered such an enormous problem. I thought it was stupid. I mean we had a uniform for school hours. I told her this earlier, but she insisted that we only wore it 6 hours out of the day and the other 18 must be accounted for.

"Uh, well I'm a pretty good gymnast. I'm kind of sad though because now that I'm here, I can't continue with it. You guys don't have a gymnastics team here," I sighed. I'd been in gymnastics since I was eight. Now that part of my life was dead.

Alice immediately turned around with an almost frighteningly excited expression grazing her tiny features, all thoughts of my "hopeless" wardrobe seemingly strewn from her mind.

"GYMNASTICS!"

"Uh, yes?" I said, now actually frightened.

"anydanceorcheerexperienceoranything?!" What? She'd spoken so rapidly I could not even hope to comprehend her.

"What?"

"Do you have any dance or cheer experience?" She said impatiently, eyes teeming with excitement.

"Well I cheered in middle school. I never made any friends though so I quit. They were all really snobby."

And then Alice Cullen let out the loudest scream, hugged me, lifted me from the floor, and spun me around like a pixie-powered tornado.

"Bella! Oh my GOD! Tryout for cheerleading! Please, Please, Please! You'll love it! I'm on the team and my friend Rosalie is captain! It would be so much fun. You'll be great I just know it!"

Wow. Cheerleading. Wow. From my prior experience with cheerleading I would have said no immediately if not for Alice's pleading expression and excitement. I mean, it was such a stupid thing really. Just jump around and root for the boys. Kind of degrading really.

"Wow Alice I don't know. I mean, no offense, but I'm more the type who likes to play sports, not cheer for them."

Suddenly sweet little Alice looked well…not so sweet if you know what I mean. If looks could kill…Then, a look of mixed annoyance and understanding crossed her face.

"Bella I don't know what experience you've had with your so called 'cheerleading past', but I do know that it must not have been the same as what we do here. Cheerleading is probably the toughest and hardest sport we have at this school. We don't just 'cheer for the home team'. That's just extra practice and fun. We compete in competitions. We dance, tumble, and stunt in our routines. We work really hard and we even won at state last year and went to nationals and made semi-finals! Please, Bella give it a shot! I mean, it is the only way you're going to keep up with any kind of gymnastics."

I sat on the bed semi-shocked. She really seemed keen on defending her sport AND getting me to tryout. Her words really sank into my brain. This was a no-shit kind of team. It was self-standing; its purpose wasn't just to tease the boys on the football field or the basketball court. Maybe this was worth giving a try. Alice had been nothing short of wonderful. I couldn't cut her idea down without so much as giving it a try. Plus it really was the only way to keep up with gymnastics, even if only partially. Maybe I'd even make friends? Well…It could happen. I took a deep breath and looked into her eyes.

"You're right Alice. I'm sorry. I don't know enough about it yet to judge your team. From what you say though, it really seems legit and...I trust you. So I won't make any promises but I will go to tryouts and make my decision from there. Okay? I mean who knows right? Maybe it'll be…fun."

She shot up and repeated her screaming pixie-tornado scene leaving me sufficiently dizzy. I couldn't help but feel a bit excited myself actually, though I hated to admit it. The utter excitement and joy was tangible in the atmosphere around her. Maybe this school would finally give me friends, a purpose, a place to belong. I could only hope and pray. Maybe a new start was just what I needed.

* * *

**So alright it's my first story but I'm trying really hard. PLEASE review. I'd really appreciate it. Criticism is welcomed as long as it's not flame-y. The next chapter comes up after I get a review or two so I can fix the second chapter accordingly. Thanks! **

**-Tetra(my fake name)**


	2. Good Vibrations

**Disclaimer- I do not own twilight or any of it's characters**

**Hi! enjoy! **

* * *

Alice and I continued our work with unpacking and we were finished within the next hour. While we worked, Alice continued to tell me of every minute aspect of her beloved cheerleading squad with excruciating detail. From competitions; which I was unfamiliar with to the uncomfortable world of spankies(the brightly colored, granny-panty like underwear that you wear under your uniform); which I was, quite unfortunately very familiar with.

According to Alice there was only the varsity squad and no subordinate. They cheered for varsity basketball during the winter season and during playoff time for the football team at the end of fall. She did mention however that she had never cheered for the football team in her entire cheer career here due to the fact that our team was so substandard that they never even made the playoffs. She informed me that tryouts for the squad were this Thursday and Friday and that should I make it (which she assured me I would despite the fact she was still unaware of my abilities), we would be cheering through the fall and winter, with our major competitions in January (state) and March (nationals) assuming we'd make it that far.

Once we had completed our work, Alice took once last glance around assuring herself that the task at hand had been completed to its fullest. I joined her in inspection and felt utterly pleased with our quick work. The room really screamed "us".

Alice's side was mostly pink with bold zebra print bedding and had posted a few cosmopolitan rip-outs on the wall; one on fall fashion, one on keeping your calorie intake low without depriving yourself, and one listing the top ten places a man wants to be touched. Alice insisted she was a virgin when I asked her about it and claimed that you can still touch a man without REALLY touching him. I was slightly confused but let it slide as the subject turned my face the color of a tomato.

My side was more practical but suited me well. A turquoise comforter with swirling ivory accents graced my bed and a sole framed picture of my family from when I was young rested on my nightstand. As I said, simple, but fitting.

Alice divided our closet in half, adding shoe racks and clever space saving appliances she'd purchased from Bed Bath & Beyond. She only allowed the use of wooden hangers informing me that it helped created the illusion of organization. An illusion that was most definitely not needed in her case. Working her magic she managed to just about triple our closet space and organized all garments by color and purpose.

"Well Bella" Alice said as well both finished our silent inspections, "That just about does it I guess. It's about 5:00 now. Want to me to give you a mini-tour of the campus before we meet up with Jazz at 6:00?"

"Sure" I said slightly surprised, not realizing I was invited to her dinner plans with Jasper. I was really grateful that she so willingly invited me, as I really didn't have a clue how I would get around the campus tomorrow. Hell, I didn't even know where I was supposed to eat! The dorms didn't include a kitchen and the school was devoid of an actual cafeteria.

"Great! Grab your class schedule and your purse and let's go!"

* * *

We strolled across the vast, magnificent campus with my schedule in tow. The campus had five main educational buildings including the gym/fitness center. Alice pointed out where all my classes would be taking place and gave me the fastest directions to each. Taking note of my obvious anxiety, she slipped my schedule from my trembling grasp and quickly scrawled all of it down on the back, even including a rough sketch of the campus and school shops where I could grab a bite to eat between classes.

"Here you go babe. No worries now 'kay?" She gave me a reassuring smile and handed it back to me. We continued walking till we'd reached what looked like a little town but devoid of houses or cars.

"This is basically the school's own little town. It's self-sufficient but being pretty much connected to the school, it's mostly us students who come here. We can shop and eat out and stuff without having to drive anywhere. But don't worry. I have my car and everything so we can still get to the mall! The closest one is only like five minutes away with my driving."

I chuckled at how important that mall information was to her and how she had accounted for her own speed preference rather than the speed limit. I then proceeded to take a long glance around. It really was like a little town with quite a variety restaurants and stores. It was quite sufficient for me, but I guessed that Alice still needed her mall.

"Wow this is so cool Alice! All the restaurants look great. I don't know how you stay so slim."

"Well again, I am a cheerleader" she said smirking proudly, and then giggled.

"Plus I have been on summer break. I've only been back a day".

"Oh yeah! I totally forgot." I said chuckling lightly as well.

* * *

Alice texted Jasper and told him to meet us a Ralphie's, a small pizza place that Alice claimed was the best around. He met us soon after and we enjoyed a delicious, large pepperoni and mushroom pizza. Alice didn't complain about the meat. She just picked off all the pepperoni from her slices.

We talked quite a lot and even introverted Jasper contributed frequently to the conversation. I found out that instead of playing sports, he was the lead singer and guitarist of a rock band with a few other boys on campus. He said he was really into music and that it took on a huge role in his life. It was really nice to know more about him, and he was quite interesting.

We all remained in our seats shortly afterwards, sipping our sodas while making light conversation.

"So Jasper, I know this sounds a bit cliché but how did you and Alice get together?" I said to keep up the small talk with my new friends. I was surprised to see however, the look of pain that flashed across his eyes that told me that I had apparently brought up a sensitive topic. I didn't mean to obviously. Usually the "how I met my girlfriend" talk was light and humorous, but his expression told me otherwise and I quickly added, "If you don't mind".

Jasper looked at Alice once, who then decided to tell me the story herself.

"Well Bella, he's been my brother's best friend since childhood. We eventually developed feelings for each other and well, here we are." I knew she wasn't lying but I could tell she left out some huge details. They were both aware of my awareness, but we all seemed to silently agree that maybe now wasn't the best time to bring this up. I thought of something else to say.

"So…you have a brother Alice?" I said grasping at the one, hopefully light, piece of information she had revealed in her last statement. Thankfully the tension in the air dispersed quickly and smiles graced their features again as they relaxed into the fresh conversation.

"Yes I do" She stated proudly. I guess she liked him.

"Well you sound like you don't mind him so much" I said with a smile, "Why don't you tell me about him? Any other siblings too, for that matter."

"Well it's just us two. His name is Edward and he goes to school here too. Of course he pisses me off sometimes but hey, he's my twin, we've got this bond" she said, pounding her fist to her heart twice.

"Your twin! Wow that's so crazy. I've been talking to you for hours and you only tell me this now?"

She giggled sweetly.

"Well yeah I guess. It just didn't come up I suppose. As I told you, he Jasper's best friend. They're roommates."

"He's a pretty cool guy" Jasper added, "Lots of fun. Unless of course you make him angry. Bad temper you know."

"AND…" Alice said with her hugest smirk yet, "He plays varsity basketball so you can, you know… 'Cheer him on'". Subtlety wasn't her thing I suppose.

"Oh come on Alice. I haven't even TRIED OUT for the team yet."

"But you will" she stated matter-of-factly.

"Yes, but-" She cut me off.

"And you will make the team"

"We really don't know tha-" She cut me off again.

"And you guys will be the cutest couple ever!"

"I don't even know hi-" She cut me of a third time.

"Trust me Bella. I'm psychic remember?"

I decided not to argue this time while Alice continued to prattle on about my future wedding and children. Her eyes glittered with fantasies while Jasper looked back at me apologetically while mouthing the words "I'm sorry". I smiled knowingly back at him and together we waited for Alice to finish her rant before we departed.

* * *

"So tryouts are when again?" I asked after Alice and I had returned to our dorm for the night.

"Thursday and Friday"

It was already Tuesday, so I had one more day before the tryouts.

"Anything in particular I need to know?" I asked plopping down on my turquoise bedspread, utterly exhausted from the eventful day.

"Well, they will teach you all the cheers once you're on the team. For now though…hmm…I guess I can teach you some basic cheer terms."

She walked to my bed and hoisted me to my aching feet. She demonstrated some arm motions that I copied, most of them being named after some letter of the alphabet such as "high V" or "T". Then we progressed to jumps which was more difficult.

"Good job Bella! You're a natural", Alice praised.

"Actually a lot of these jumps are also used in gymnastics and just called by a different name."

"Really? That's great! And here you thought you knew nothing. Silly girl!" She teased.

"I guess you're right. Anything else?"

She pressed a finger to her pink lips and pondered for a moment.

"Well, there's nothing important we can really do in a dorm room. How 'bout I just tell you more about it?"

"Sure", I said gratefully making my way back to my bed.

"Well our captain's name is Rosalie Hale. She's blonde, hot, feisty…She's a senior but we are really good friends actually. One of my best. She's pretty fun and laid back whenever she isn't cheering but when she is she's really intimidating. Scary even. Takes the captain position like an army lieutenant."

"She sounds like an interesting character"

"Oh she is. But you should see her with her boyfriend, Emmett McCarty! He's hilarious. He's the basketball captain, of course together with the head cheerleader, surprise, surprise. He's much lighter with the guys on his team but I guess their coach is more involved than ours is. Anyway, he and Rosalie have the funniest relationship. They breakup like every other week after Emmett does something stupid or annoying that Rose vastly overreacts to being the drama queen she is. Then they get back together 20 minutes later being as in love as they are. It's quite entertaining really. I mean one time last year, he got her a corsage that completely clashed with her dress for a dance and well, let's just say his left eyebrow never grew back the way it should have".

We both started laughing and after a few more stories we hit the lights.

* * *

"Bella! Rise and shine sleeping beauty" Alice prodded in her naturally loud voice when it was time to get up in the morning. She then pounced on top of me, bouncing up and down while straddling the cocoon of blankets I'd wrapped myself in.

"Ugh" I rolled over roughly, causing her to fall off the bed onto the floor.

"ISABELLA SWAN!" She tugged on my blanket cocoon with such force that I tumbled to the floor as well.

I opened my eyes to a furious little pixie in her pajamas with her tiny hands on her hips.

"What?!" I said now at full attention and still on the floor.

"School babe. I thought I would do you a kindness and wake you up myself instead of forcing you to wake up to an alarm clock. Those things are so dreadful."

"Gee thanks hon. It really was much better waking up to you molesting me and then falling on the floor…"

She smiled sheepishly.

"Well, maybe I got a little excited. I'll work on it."

"Please do"

After a quick shower, I brushed my teeth and then let Alice have her turn in our bathroom. I was truly grateful we had our own bathroom. Sharing it with anyone else would be gross and bothersome.

I blow dried my hair and applied some light makeup. I usually didn't bother much with my appearance but being in a new school, meeting new people…I just wanted to make a good first impression.

I pulled my new uniform from the closet and put it on. It consisted of a pleated green and navy plaid skirt, a short-sleeved white button up blouse, navy knee highs, brown shoes, and a navy tie. I also had an optional navy blazer for colder days.

I studied my self in the mirror and much to my surprise, I liked what I saw. The uniform was actually quite cute on me. I mean sure it had its nerdish qualities but it was charming in its own way.

Alice came back from the bathroom dressed in her uniform too. Her uniform for some reason looked a lot cooler than mine. I frowned. Just a moment ago I'd thought my uniform looked cute, but after looking at Alice I started to feel like a nerd.

"Hey why do you look hot and I look like a nerd?"

She then glanced at me and started laughing.

"What?" I said impatiently.

"Sorry Bella it's just that you look like a freshman. It's the whole new uniform thing. Here let me help you."

She then proceeded to roll my skirt up to a shorter length, promising to hem it to the "proper" length for me later tonight. Then, she unbuttoned the top two buttons of my blouse, un-tucked it from my skirt, and loosened my tie. Lastly, she grabbed a nail file from her nightstand and proceeded to scuff up my shoes some, making them appear more worn and laced my laces up in a clever bar-like fashion loosely, claiming I could now just slip them on and would never have to tie shoes again.

"Well that's as much as I can do for now. The rest will just come naturally from fading in the wash, and ripping at the seams. It's a vast improvement though, if I do say so myself. No one will think you're a freshie at least"

I turned to the mirror to admire Alice's work. Who would have though trashing a uniform would enhance it? It was subtle of course. I'm sure any dramatic damaging would get a student detention. But it just showed a level of comfort with the school. In a strange way it showed superiority through experience. Of course I couldn't hope to be at that level of comfort yet but I was a junior, so I should look like one, "enhanced" uniform and all.

"Thanks Alice. I'd be getting my diploma before I figured it out myself. I'm not one for details like you"

She grinned proudly at my praise.

"Well you know me. It's all in the details! But seriously look at you! Hot new girl in an 'enhanced' schoolgirl uniform. You'll drive the boys crazy!"

I blushed profusely as we gathered our things and headed out.

The only class Alice and I shared was British Literature which of course, I didn't even have today. We walked to the main part of the campus together and said our goodbyes, shortly after. I grabbed a coffee from one of little shops built into the campus. Of course, the snobby school I went to only sold Starbucks coffee and I had to pay $4 for it, but whatever, it was really good. I slowly sipped my "breakfast" and made my way over to my first class, AP Biology.

I found the classroom easily, following the map Alice had sketched for me. I was still a few minutes early so I made my way in and sat at an empty lab table feeling sufficiently out of place, not knowing a soul in the room. I was pretty shy so striking up a conversation with a complete stranger was not an option, but it didn't seem like anyone would be approaching me however as they were all much too involved in their own conversations to pay any attention to the weird new girl.

Sitting alone started feeling too awkward, so I decided to fire up my new laptop (required by the school's curriculum) and play solitaire all the while praying for class to commence immediately and rid me of my loneliness. I took the last sip of my coffee, and started to concentrate diligently on the digital cards. Then an unfamiliar voice startled me.

"Starbucks huh. It's good but too overrated for me."

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**Who is it?! Who could it be?! I promise Edward is in the next chapter. I've already pretty much finished it. It's my favorite one so far. I'll probably post it tomorrow.**

**Tehe. I'm actually very loosely basing this off my prep school. Except I don't go to boarding school and her uniform is much cuter. But the uniform enhancing, the laptops, the overpriced food, that kind of stuff- the Starbucks only thing?-The college my sister went to. Ridiculous. I know. ugh...**

**Anyway please review and thanks so much for reading! You make me smile**

**-Tetra**


	3. Eyes on Fire

**A/N: Thanks guys for all of your reviews and alerts. You really saved my self esteem. Chapter 2 got like a third of the hits chapter one did. I I know I'm being paranoid, but this is all new to me so and it's in my nature. Anyway this is kind of an odd chapter but it's my fav so far Because I'm an odd person. It turned out shorter but I'm not one to add more just for the sake of it. Chapter 4 is longer. Anyway on with the show cause I'm starting to ramble. **

**Disclaimer- I don't own twilight, blah, blah, blah**

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My head snapped up quickly at the sound of the unexpected voice and my eyes quickly located its source. He was lanky boy with light blonde hair and big, baby blue eyes smiling down at me. His innocent face was not unattractive but nothing really out of the ordinary either. He was of about average height, maybe taller, but I couldn't really judge because I was seated and he was leaning over. His supple looking hands rested on the table in front of me and his head was hovering just above my computer screen. He looked harmless enough, but something about him repelled me just a bit.

"Well, it is a bit overrated but you don't have anything else here do you?" I replied, brushing off the repulsion as my own anxiety and having nothing to do with him.

The stranger smiled knowingly at my response.

"Well not in the school run parts no. But further down the campus where all the little privately owned restaurants are they do have a coffee shop."

"Oh. Just didn't see it I guess," I just couldn't help it. I was trying to be polite but something about him still irked me.

"I'm Mike Newton," he stated extending his hand to me in order to make acquaintance.

"Bella Swan," I said awkwardly shaking it, looking at our hands rather than his eyes.

"Nice to meet you," I said finally meeting his overly enthusiastic gaze. Ugh. Not really.

"Well Bella that coffee shop really has great coffee. I'm sorry you couldn't find it. Maybe I can show it to you after school," he said now looking me over. Now I knew why he bothered me. It was my sub-conscience trying to warn me that some creep in disguise was going to hit on me.

"Well actually my friend Alice is helping me practice for cheerleading tryouts after school. Maybe another time," I lied letting him down easily and firmly. Sure I didn't like him, but I didn't want to hate me. That wouldn't be a desirable way to begin the year.

Believing he got the message I brought my attention back to my game.

"How 'bout lunch then? All juniors are free between 11:00 and 12:00," Crap. Now what?

"Uh well…I…"

"I wouldn't get your hopes up Mike. In case you didn't know 'maybe another time' means 'leave me the fuck alone' in girl talk," said a heavenly velvet voice.

I looked to my right to find that the velvet voice belonged to the most breathtakingly handsome guy I had ever laid eyes on. He too was adorned in the school uniform of a navy blazer and tie, white button up, khaki slacks, and a brown belt and shoes. Though it looked silly and Mike, it looked dashing on him as he stood next to us with his well muscled arms crossed on his broad chest. He was smirking back at Mike triumphantly, a crooked half smile gracing his angel carved features. I could see the mocking humor in his intense emerald eyes knowing that he had just foiled Mike's plan. He then cockily planted himself in the empty seat to my left casually, looking Mike straight in the eye as if to further prove his victory. Wow. Hot.

Mike was completely shocked and just gawked slack jawed at my defender for another couple seconds. Then he shook his head slightly and blinked once to bring himself out of his flabbergasted state.

"What the hell Cullen? Why are you tryin' to give Bella here a bad impression of me? I'm just trying to be friendly," Mike lied, obviously trying to turn the tables on the god to undo some of the damage.

"Oh sorry Mike. I was under the impression that you were trying to do that yourself," Newly deemed "Cullen" replied not even bothering to feign surprise as he now glared daggers back at Mike. Wait a minute…

"Whatever. Later Bella," Mike said angrily, accepting defeat and leaving before it got any worse.

I watched Mike make his way to the furthest seat from us and then turned to whom I assumed to be Alice's twin. They looked nothing alike but Alice only had one brother and I mean, how many Cullen's could there be?

"Are...Are you Edward Cullen? Alice's Twin?" I stuttered idiotically. I couldn't help it. He was too gorgeous to talk confidently to.

"No, of course not," He teased. He casually combed his left hand through his deliciously tousled bronze locks and leaned his head on it to look at me with his sexy crooked smirk.

His beautiful eyes staring directly at me rendered me dazed and breathless. It was the first time our eyes had ever met and his sent me into a trance. Every second that passed I was getting more and more nervous and my heart was beating faster and faster. His eyes were calling to me, capturing me. I wanted to flirt back with all my heart and soul but unfortunately I'd forgotten how to speak.

Damn it! C'mon Bella! You can do this!

"Oh…" I managed. Crash and burn…

"I'm… not serious Bella. Of course I'm Alice's twin," He looked at me sympathetically.

His spell was still entrancing me, but I really needed to speak now. If not for the reason that he was expecting a response, then for the reason that my ears needed to hear his beautiful voice again. I swallowed, giving it my best shot.

"Oh I know! I just…um, lost my train of thought you know!? First day nerves! um…thanks for like…you know…" Shit! I was flailing my arms around like a lunatic trying to get him to understand. Crash, burn, explosion, dying babies… Maybe I just should have just kept quite till the spell wore off. Of course I wasn't entirely certain when or if that would happen.

"No problem," he said confidently, smiling at my poor attempt at acting like a normal human being.

I felt the hot blood burn my face, informing me that I was blushing profusely. I looked away from his gorgeous face quickly in hopes of extinguishing the fire in my cheeks. If I broke the gaze maybe talking to him would be possible. After a short moment I had calmed down slightly and forced myself to think of something intelligent to say to him.

C'mon! Think Bella Think! You're losing him!

"Coffee?" GAH! What are you doing! Oh no…

Apparently my calming down plan had failed miserably. Instead of bringing eloquence and coherency back to my speech, it completely back fired and I'd found a way to say something even more idiotic.

"Um…Sure," he said, surprised at my gesture but taking it anyway. When the cup was firmly in his grasp, a look of confusion crossed his face and he removed the cap to peek inside.

What? I wasn't going to poison him! Oh wait…it's empty. Right. I breathed in deeply and looked down.

"Uh Bella?"

"Yes, Edward,"

"It's empty,"

"I know, Edward," Crash, burn, explosion, dying babies, dead babies turning into zombies and killing everyone else…

"Are you okay Bella?" He said looking very concerned and slightly disturbed.

"Sure," was all I could say, but of course I wasn't. I'd just made and idiot of myself in front of the most gorgeous guy I'd ever meet in my life.

At that point our teacher Mr. Banner FINALLY walked in, giving me the perfect excuse not to embarrass myself any further. Still, I'd already done quite enough damage. My mind was swimming with ideas of what Edward was possibly thinking about me at that moment. None of them were too pleasant.

"Sorry, I'm late. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Mr. Banner. Before we start, I hope you all like your seats because I don't want anyone moving till I know all of your names. I'll be passing around a chart of the room right now, so just write your name on the square that corresponds with your seat. Any Questions?...All right let's get started". He turned to the white board after his brief speech promptly starting today's lesson.

I couldn't decide whether I was glad or not to be stuck sitting next to Edward. I couldn't complete coherent sentences around him, he made me sweat bullets, and he surely believed me to be completely insane. For some reason however, the idea of just sitting next to him till further notice was kind of exciting. Sure he wouldn't be here from free will, but maybe if I got used to him, I could prove to him that I wasn't a psycho.

I knew this would prove to be quite a task however, as his very presence exhilarated and intoxicated me. It was very rare for a boy to conjure up such feelings in me, especially when I didn't even know them. He set my body on fire, sent my heart racing, and caused static-like shivers to roll up and down my spine and forearms. As much as it disgusted me to admit it, I was crushing on him big time like 13 year old girl crushes on her celebrity obsession. The crush was blind, foundationless, and powerful…

I was attempting to pay attention but somehow I knew that wasn't happening today. I typed up random words from the lecture I was selectively listening to while hiding from Edward under the veil of my long, brown hair.

He seemed to be taking pretty copious notes as I hear his fingers flying across the key board. Quite a few times I thought I felt him stare at me but I was far to embarrassed to check. If he was looking, he was probably wondering what planet I was from or what mental institution I'd escaped.

When classed ended I booked it out of there at the speed of light. I pulled my phone from my purse and immediately texted Alice.

Bella: y didnt u tel me edward was in my class!

Alice: i thought id b mor fun if i didnt. i told him 2 look out 4 u tho!

Bella: wat do u mean look out for me?

Alice: help u out. b nice. u no. y wat happnd?

Bella: wel he kept this kid from hittin on me. then we sat 2gthr

Alice: rly!!! wat did u say? wat did he say?

Bella: wel Al, lets just say tht he now prob thinks im a mentally challngd psycho wit turrets syndrome.

Alice: oh, bells

Bella: pls kil me Al

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A/N: Yay Edward! Poor Bella. But I'm sure everyone agrees with me that ruining her life is entertaining and nesscessary. I'm going to make things so much worse later. Tanya is introduced in the next chapter and I'm so excited. Review Please!

-Tetra


	4. Bring It

**A/N: IMPORTANT! If you guys have absolutely no idea what the tumbling or stunts are than never fear! I have posted links on my profile that will show you all the things included in this chapter. And thanks for everyone's reviews and support. They mean the world to me.**

**Disclaimer- I do not own Twilight. Duh. Or I wouldn't be writing on fanfiction.**

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The rest of my first day flew by me in a confusing, high-speed blur after Biology and it was now Thursday afternoon. Today had been the same, everything blurring except for Biology where the seconds past as minutes as I sat next to Edward still thoroughly embarrassed enough to want to crawl under a rock.

Neither of us spoke. He surly thought I was a freak and I couldn't form words around him. I just sat there staring forward, not once glancing to my left. I was determined not to scare the gorgeous creature who would look over every few minutes to make sure I wasn't going to go totally insane and attack him. If I just sat still and didn't bother him, maybe soon he would come to believe I was just on something very illegal that first day and we could start fresh.

I could worry about him later though. At the moment, Alice and I are stretching in the gym for cheerleading tryouts. Technically as a school requirement Alice had to "tryout" as well, giving everyone a fair chance. Of course she would be re-admitted but it was only standard procedure. It was only in very rare cases that a veteran cheerleader was not accepted and Alice was excellent.

That being said, Alice was just lazily stretching, seeming very annoyed and bored with the situation. I on other hand was stretching like a contortionist, determined to do my absolute best, even if the overstretching would leave me sore in the morning. I really did want to make the team now. Alice seemed to love it and from what I had picked up in the past three days, it seemed that cheerleading was a huge here. I mean they even had guy cheerleaders who no one even bothered to tease. Sure it could be because they're probably some of the most well built guys in the school but still, I think there's a least some respect there, even if only enough to keep people's mouths shut.

I anxiously scoped out the competition surrounding me. There was quite a turn out and the butterflies in my stomach seemed overly determined to make me vomit. Most of the crowd was female, but a good handful of guys were here too. I was secretly very curious as to how many of them were gay, how many were serious athletes, and how many just came in hopes of impressing a cheerleader.

Just then, the gym door burst open dramatically and an insanely beautiful girl walked in. Her long blonde curls were pulled up into a loose ponytail that swayed with her supermodel stride. She had on a plain white tank top, white cheerleading sneakers, and navy mesh shorts with Volterra Prep printed on the leg in green. She had a perfect, well toned figure, long, graceful legs, and abs you could bounce quarters off of. She radiated the intensity and discipline of a military drill sergeant and I knew immediately that this girl must be Rosalie Hale; the beautiful, popular, cheerleading captain that any girl in the school would sell their soul to be. Well, there goes my self esteem.

Rosalie now stood front and center of the mass of cheerleading hopefuls and smiled sweetly and confidently.

"Hey, Everyone. Thanks for coming out. For those of you who don't know me, I'm the cheerleading captain, Rosalie Hale. I will be the one who ultimately decides who makes the cuts but I will also consult with Coach Kate. Basically today I'll be assessing each of you on your tumbling and stunting skills. I'll post up the first cut list on the gym door by 8:00 tonight. If you didn't make it I'm really sorry but if so, then be back tomorrow right after school. I'll teach a short dance and cheer to you tomorrow and then you will perform it in groups of five for Coach Kate and I and then we'll make the final cuts. So remember, just do your best and try to have fun. Seriously there's nothing that will derail your chances more than complaining or being bad sport. Alright, any questions?"

One boy's hand shot up and he smirked at her half seductively and half teasingly.

"Are you free this Saturday night?"

Rosalie looked appalled, and then sighed.

"Just get out Greg…" She said crossing her arms.

"Ah c'mon babe, let me stay!"

"Fine…" Rosalie sighed. "Any real questions?"

No one else said anything.

"Good. Get in groups of four with at least one girl in each group. If there are any extras you can have five. Alice, Jacob, and Chris come here," Rosalie commanded.

Alice looked at me apologetically for having to leave me and then hurried up front to Rosalie. I quickly joined a group with three other girls.

"Okay. Everyone just sit down in your groups…great! Now we are going to demonstrate a few builds and then walk around and teach you guys step by step."

I watched Alice, Rosalie, and the two boys up front. The one boy Chris was pretty average looking with brown hair, and light skin. The other boy Jacob however was actually quite attractive. I guessed he was Native American from his straight ebony hair and his beautiful russet skin that stretched taught over his long, muscular physique. His chiseled jaw and long facial features somehow perfectly accented his dark, playful eyes. Wow. Please don't be gay.

"Okay, first we'll demonstrate the basic prep. You will have two bases," She pointed to Jacob and Chris who stood facing each other, "A backspot," she pointed to herself and stood behind them in the middle, "and a flyer," Alice raised her hand and stood in front of Rosalie, one hand on each of the boys shoulders, with Rosalie's hands gripping her waist.

"Okay what's gonna happen is, on the count of three, Alice will bounce and push off with her arms and the guys will catch her feet and hold her up. My job is to help Alice get up there and lift up on her ankles when she's up. Sounds complicated but it's something you just need to see."

With that, Rosalie counted and Alice was up in the air easily. This was obviously much too easy for them. "The Basic Prep," Rosalie called it then counted again and the boys and Rosalie lifted her all the way above their heads putting her about eight feet in the air. Again, they did it with ease. "The Basic Full," She stated again with ease. Then Rosalie counted again, and they threw Alice up in the air. She bent, laid back, spun, and caught herself in the waiting arms of the others who then proceeded to set her back down. "A full down," she stated.

"These are your most basic stunts. Being an advanced coed squad, you won't do these much but you need to start front the bottom. Most stunts will be single-legged and only include one or two guys and one girl. Alice, Jake, please demonstrate. Chris spot them"

With that Jacob grasped Alice's tiny waist, bounced her once, and then somehow she ended up high in the air with one foot in his hands stretched above his head and the other foot held contorted behind her back making a ring. Oh dear god.

"A scorpion" Rosalie said proudly.

Alice then held her foot with one hand and stuck the other arm through the ring.

"A bow and arrow"

Alice then took her twisted leg and bent it at the knee in front of her.

"A liberty"

Then, Alice popped up and back down landing easily on her feet and Jacob grabbing her waist to break the force of the fall.

"These stunts we'll use more commonly. They are of about mid-difficulty. We'll get into harder stunts once the team is formed." Rosalie said matter-of-factly

Wow. Alice wasn't exaggerating the expertise of cheerleading in this school. If standing on one foot on the small pedestal of one person's hands eight feet in the air wasn't the most difficult thing they practiced, then I was sure in for some grueling work if I made the team. Alice had almost convinced me before that I would make it easily, but seeing this now, I just couldn't believe her anymore.

"Alright now, enough demonstrating. Let's get to work!" Rosalie said.

For the next hour, the original demonstrators walked around helping out each group learn the basic stunts. A beautiful blonde girl in my group, Tanya, was one of the team veterans. She was skilled enough that our group was able to perform the stunts with her help. She explained well and was skilled at basing and flying but it was just they way she explained things that bothered me. It was as if she thought herself superior to the rest of us; like this was at the same difficulty level as clapping your hands. And it wasn't just the vanity that bothered me. I was the lightest so I was flying, and it seemed like she criticized me a good deal more than the other two girls.

In a way, I suppose I should be grateful I was in Tanya's group because it seemed like many of the other groups where having much more difficulty than we were. She was quite skilled it seemed and Alice did say that a good portion of their squad had graduated. The ratio of new people trying out to veteran members was probably 5 or 6 to 1 with such a large turnout.

"Bella seriously, stop wobbling. It only makes it that much harder for the rest of us and your not that light you know. Really, it's not that hard," Tanya scolded when I was in a full.

Jeez! I'm trying! At least I was up there.

"Alright, cradle 1, 2," I rode the pop cradle then caught myself in the bases arms.

"Don't scrunch up so much when you cradle! Jeez, were not superhuman. We can't catch you like that."

I really didn't know what her problem was. My other two partners, Leah and Maggie didn't look like they had such a torturous time catching me.

"I think you're great Bella. She's just a bitch. Ignore her," Maggie whispered in my ear when Tanya wasn't looking.

"Alright everyone come back to the center!" Rosalie commanded, yelling so everyone could hear her.

Everyone in the gym flocked to the center of the gym and sat down.

"Great job guys. I can see real potential in a lot of you. We are going to move to tumbling and jumps now. When I call your name do a single tumbling run. Do whatever you're comfortable with but try to be creative as you can and show us what you've got. After that walk to the center of the mat and show us your pike and toe touch jumps. When you're done, you can leave. Just make sure you check the list tonight okay?"

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A half hour later, Alice and I were sitting together watching everyone tumble. They were auditioning in alphabetical order leaving me as one of the last to go. Alice had already gone since her last name was Cullen. I was so proud of her. She'd done an amazing job, but I suppose that was to be expected. Tanya also did a fabulous job of course and it irked me to no end that someone I disliked so greatly was almost as skilled a gymnast as I was and much better at everything else.

But I was still a better tumbler than her…hmm. I devised a plan.

I tried to think up an advanced tumbling sequence that would blow hers out of the water. She would see me do it too, because she'd stuck around to watch, probably just to criticize those who messed up.

I assessed my stage thoroughly. The gym was enormous and the mat we were using was quite large. I could fit a lot in if I was tight and didn't run much. I decided I would cut out the running round off all together which was what she and most others started with. Too safe. Too…expected. I needed to be creative. Something that Tanya wasn't. Sure she was good, great even, but her run was so…typical.

I thought for a bit and decided on my pass. I would only run a few steps, and then I would do a punch front, step out layout, back handspring, two whips, another back handspring, another step out, and ending with a triple full. I knew I was being overly risky and ambitious, but this is what I was best at. I needed to prove my strengths and stand out now or I'd never make the squad. There were so many other talented and experienced people here. It would be all or nothing. I would either complete the most amazing pass here, or I would screw up and break my neck.

"Alright, Bella Swan," Rosalie called me.

Alice gave me a quick hug. I made my way to the corner of the mat and took a deep breath. I saw Tanya standing at the front and center end of the mat near Rosalie, watching me smugly and probably hoping I'd mess up. I'd show her.

But then much to my terror I saw a godlike-man strolling up behind her. What the hell was Edward doing here?! Shit! Now if I messed up, not only would Tanya mock me for the rest of eternity but also the most breathtakingly gorgeous creature in the world would witness it as well.

Then Jasper and Alice joined him, hoping they too could get the best view they could. So he was here with Jasper and Alice. Maybe he'd be too busy paying attention to them than to notice me…Oh who am I kidding! They were all staring right at me!

"Whenever you're ready Bella," Rosalie encouraged. She was probably noticing the momentary hold up and just assumed it nerves. Of course it was, but a whole different kind; an Edward Cullen kind. I couldn't do it in front of him.

Then I had an idea. Maybe, just maybe, if I could concentrate on Tanya and how much she made my blood boil, then I would have my chance. I looked her straight in the eyes, and she smirked at me, quite content watching my nervous hold up.

That did it. Hot blood rushed through my veins filled with Adrenaline. I took a deep breath and began. The world was in slow motion. Punch Front…Step-Out Layout…Back Handspring…Whip…Whip…Back Handspring…Step-Out Layout…Triple Full…Landing. Perfect. Yes! Oh Dear God, thank you! Thank you…Tanya!

I flipped my head back dramatically as I stood up. I turned back to my small audience of Rosalie, Tanya, Edward, Alice, and the few others still waiting to go after me. Everyone appeared shocked and awed, except for Alice and Rosalie who both looked exuberant and pleasantly surprised, and Tanya who gawked disgustedly and furiously like someone who had discovered a human finger cooked into their dinner.

I then cockily made my way back to the center of the mat still high from my pass and performed a perfect pike and a triple toe touch. Okay, so I was showing of a little bit and did more than I had to; so sue me. Rosalie seemed to think it was great.

I pranced back to Edward, Alice, and Jasper slowing down briefly as I passed Tanya on the way smiling cheekily and waving at her as I said, "Bye Tanya".

She gave me a "Go to hell" look and I continued my prancing to the others.

When I reached Alice, she forced me into one of her squealing, pixie-tornado hugs. I didn't mind though. I hugged her right back, squealing as well.

"Oh my God Bella! I knew you rocked, but wow! That was so awesome!"

"Thanks Alice"

We then turned simultaneously to Jasper and Edward.

"That was great Bella," Jasper said sweetly with a shy smile.

"Thanks"

"Yeah Bella that was…wow," Edward said with an unreadable but pleasant expression gracing his incredible face.

"Um…Thanks Edward," I said bashfully, only holding eye contact with him for a fraction of a second before my eyes fell to the floor in embarrassment, hot blood flooding back to my cheeks.

"So how 'bout we all grab some dinner together and celebrate?" Jasper suggested.

"That sounds like a fabulous idea babe! Right, Bella?"

"Sure I'm starving!"

"And will you be joining us, dear brother of mine?" Alice asked Edward in a teasing voice. Oh crap. I didn't even think about Edward when I replied. I was just thinking of my loudly growling stomach.

"I'd love to little sis'," Well, I guess I needed to build up my immunity to him anyway. Might as well start now.

"Oh c'mon you're older by 12 minutes!" she replied, punching him teasingly in the arm.

"12 minutes, 12 months, 12 years…It's all the same Ali. Older is Older and you are my little sister."

She punched him again but in the chest this time. He wouldn't have it though. He lifted her up easily and held her upside down. They both laughed as Alice then proceeded to whack his legs. They were really cute together and their obvious bond was strong and beautiful. Their resemblance was so evident, though I hadn't been able to see it before. It wasn't in their physical features but in their gestures and speech. They were somehow opposite but the same. They balanced each other out like yin and yang. If this resemblance continued on the inside, then I knew he must have a beautiful soul as well because Alice was the most wonderful person I'd ever truly known.

Suddenly, his gorgeous shell wasn't important anymore. I wanted to speak with him more than ever now, and not just because of the way he looked. I knew this would be difficult due to my enormous and foundationless crush on him that blinded me and forced me into idiocy, but I would find a way to look past his exterior and see the person within. I had to. Otherwise, I might loose the opportunity to witness something truly beautiful and rare that I hoped with all my heart was there; All I wanted was to see his soul.

"So you guys ready to head out?" Jasper asked, bringing everyone back to the subject at hand.

"Yeah," I nodded, and we headed out.

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**A/N: HURRAY! Finally at tryouts! This is gonna be a long story. I can tell. Remember to watch the links on my profile if your confused. Anyway next chapter is their dinner! Reviews get me excited and give me the self-esteem to write faster just so you know... Haha. You guys are great. Thanks for reading! **

**-Tetra**


	5. Say Anything

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A/N: Yay! I had a snow day today and made cookies and Chapter 5! Two big accomplishments on my part if I do say so myself. It's not that important or exciting but it's necessary. Anyway Enjoy!

**Disclaimer- I do not own twilight.**

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**Chapter 5:**

About a half hour later, Alice, Jasper, Edward, and I were seated in a large booth at a sports bar and grill called Damon's. It was one of the few chain restaurants in the mini town adjacent to the campus, and the guys begged us to go there. Alice said she was fine with the idea and since I didn't know what was available here anyway I agreed as well.

The atmosphere of the restaurant was quite entertaining. We chose to sit in the "clubhouse" which was a large, semi-circular, dark, dining room that was surrounded by giant TV screens showing various sports games around the country. The booths were high and comfortable and each included a control box that allowed the customer to listen to the games on the big screens. We kept ours off though because Alice and I could care less, and the boys didn't want to be rude and ignore us.

At the moment, we had already gotten our drinks and were waiting for our meals. Jasper and Alice were arguing about the amount of each color m&ms in each pack.

"NO! It's true Jazz! You will always find more orange than any other color!" Alice argued, completely serious.

"That's ridiculous Ali. Maybe that's what some dude found in their experiment but that doesn't mean you will never in your life find a bag of m&ms where orange isn't the most common color," Jasper stated calmly and definitely.

"No it's true! For the past two and a half years, I've checked every bag I've gotten and orange always owned the rest!" Alice demanded. Oh Alice.

"And how many bags is that babe, four? You hate m&ms!" Jasper was starting to lose his ever present composure. Oh dear…This might take a while.

I glanced over to the ever-glorious Edward. Neither of us had said much of anything since we'd gotten here. A few times we'd each contributed a word or two into the conversation, but we'd mostly kept quiet and neither of us had directly addressed the other even once.

Now listening to Alice and Jasper debating over the mundane issue of m&ms, I felt sufficiently awkward just sitting there across from Edward, not speaking to him and not pretending to be part of the conversation anymore. Edward seemed to mirror my discomfort and I decided that this foolishness had to stop. I had to at least try. I'd promised myself that. So I took a deep breath and tried vigorously to focus on his "soul" rather than his sex appeal. It was such a grueling experience.

"So Edward… Um, Alice told me you played basketball huh?" I said shyly trying desperately to look him in the eyes but failing repeatedly after 3 second intervals. Ugh. Whatever. At least I'd said something that was comprehensible and not completely idiotic.

He looked up quite surprised then his crooked smile appeared slightly.

"Um, yeah. I love it. Played on varsity since freshman year," Edward said a bit timidly. Since when was Edward Cullen ever shy? Sure I didn't really know him that well but from what I've witnessed he seemed decently outgoing. Not to a cocky level, but it appeared he could keep a conversation going without too much effort. Hmm… Maybe he was still scared of me. Note to self; Don't scare anymore hot guys.

"Oh…freshman year huh? You must be pretty good then," Haha! Two whole sentences without saying anything idiotic or bizarre.

He smiled and chuckled, then looked down.

"Yeah I guess you could say that. I have to work really hard at it though," He said modestly. He was so sweet. And so sexy. Damn it Bella! Inside remember! Ugh… Life would be so much simpler if he'd just wear a bag over his head. No, I don't really mean that. I loved his face too much for that even if I wasn't worthy enough to behold such beauty. Besides, even without the face his body was enough to make me…Bella you idiot you're doing it again!

"Well no pain, no gain I guess…," Shit! What kind of loser actually says that? Oh well. I tried. At least he wasn't running away.

"Yeah, guess not," He said politely. What an angel. I'd truly believed he'd think I was stupid or tease me. I suppose I should have known better. He was much too kind for that. I guess I just felt like such a loser in comparison to him; as if nothing I could ever say or do would suffice in his presence.

I didn't know what else to say. He looked at me, but I had such a hard time looking at him with awkwardness so dense in the atmosphere. I'd just glance up every once in awhile, stare into his enticing emerald eyes, get scared and look back down. I was such an utter fool. Then at last he spoke.

"That was really amazing what you did earlier. Alice tells me that you had to give up gymnastics when you came here. I'm sorry. It must be hard to leave home and give up something that you love so much," He said genuinely with true emotion in his breathtaking eyes.

"I'm fine. I think if I make cheerleading it won't be so bad, and I don't really miss home much at all. I'm really glad to be here. My parents just recently divorced and I'm glad to be away from it all. Plus I'm meeting some wonderful people here. Your sister is probably the sweetest girl I've ever met. Oh sorry, I'm like telling you my whole sorry life story. Anyway, thanks for your concern," My cheeks were on fire. Why couldn't I just speak to him like any other person and not blurt out something stupid? He was only attempting to resurrect the failed conversation and I'd ended up spilling my soul to him as if I was in a therapy session with my psychiatrist.

"Don't worry about it Bella. I don't mind really. It's hard to go through something like that. If anything I'm the one who should be sorry. I asked you the question," Edward assured me with concern prominent in his eyes.

That proved my theory. He really was a beautiful person on the inside. Not many 17 year old boys would be so concerned with some weird, losery, girl's screwy life. He was so understanding and compassionate, and unfortunately my insane infatuation with him grew tenfold. Seriously, could I be any more pathetic? I'd never have a chance with someone like him. He could have anyone. I just hoped whoever he did choose would appreciate the magnificent man on the inside and not just the outside.

Then our waitress arrived with our orders, and set them on the table.

"Is there anything else I can get you?" She said staring right at Edward. Ugh. This was precisely why I was worried that he would end up dating someone who only cared for his appearance. Girls were constantly staring at him and flirting with him. Even this idiot, bimbo waitress that was quite obviously much too old for him.

"No were good. Thanks," he replied and she sulked away appearing slightly disappointed.

"So…Edward, Bella. What have you been talking about?" questioned Alice. Wow. I'd almost forgotten she and Jasper were here. I guess they'd solved their m&m debate.

"Oh, nothing much. Just getting to know each other better. Right Bella?" He asked me with an encouraging smile that simultaneously crushed my heart and sent it soaring.

"Yeah," was all I could say after such a smile.

"Oh, okay...I see," Alice said with a devilish grin that revealed that she was thinking of something that I surely wouldn't agree to but would entertain her sufficiently.

"What are you thinking about Alice?" I questioned threateningly.

"Oh nothing honey. I was just noticing how wonderfully that tank top accents your cleavage. Don't you agree Edward?" She questioned nonchalantly.

That evil little pixie! I gawked at her mortified and crossed my arms across my chest. Now he might think that I liked him and that she was trying to help me out! This was true I suppose, but nonetheless, I didn't want him to know that.

". Well um…, Alice is this really an appropriate question?" He blushed ever so slightly and scrunched his eyebrows down in concern. Great! Just Great! He had to know. Why else would he be so uncomfortable?

"Oh, sorry guys! You know me, always noticing what looks good and bad on people," She tried to blow it off with what I would consider pretty acceptable acting. Yeah, and also messing around with other people's business for your own irritating form of personal entertainment.

"So…," Jasper said obviously trying to break us all free from the awkward conversation, "How do you like school so far Bella? Anything new?" God bless Jasper and his ability to bring sanity back to uncomfortable situations.

"It's not so bad. The campus is beautiful and I don't mind school so much. And I'm liking the fact that we only have gym once a week. 'Course I have my first class tomorrow…," I said with a slight look of disgust on my face.

"Oh really, what time?" Jasper asked.

"Ugh, First!"

"Really? Cool. So do me and Edward," Edward was in my gym class? Oh Dear. I was already driven to the cusp of insanity sitting next to him in Biology. Who knows what seeing him sweating in a t-shirt and shorts would do to me?

"Oh…awesome," Well, I was in for some fun tomorrow.

* * *

After dinner, Alice and I said our goodbyes to Jasper and Edward and headed over to the gym. It was nearly 8:00 and Rosalie would be posting the list shortly.

When we arrived, there were many others already anxiously waiting for the much anticipated list to be posted. I noticed Tanya seated on a bench next to her mousy follower Jessica, perfectly at ease with a narcissistic smirk on her glossy pink lips watching the others panicking. She was just such a horrible excuse for a human being.

Then the gym door burst open and the beautiful Rosalie strutted out at a pace much too slow for my racing heart. Then she spoke.

"If I could have everyone's attention please," she commanded unnecessarily as the crowd was dead silent and hanging on her every word with anticipation.

"I'll be posting the list now and I want you all to know that no matter what, I'm really proud of all of you," she turned and posted the list with a smile, "and please…don't trample anyone on your way up. An extra 30 seconds won't kill any of you I promise".

With that she stepped away and everyone pushed and shoved one another in hopes of reaching the list first. Alice and I ran up as well and I saw from the corner of my eye that Tanya was still seated perfectly at ease with her arms and legs crossed watching the chaos unfolding in front of her. I didn't waste any energy thinking about her though. All I could think about was the list that I desperately needed to see.

I saw a few girls in front of me embracing and hoping up and down squealing. I also saw a few more people sulking away utterly dejected, their eyes filled with tears. I even saw a few people (mostly guys) leave the list furious, with their fists shaking violently and murder in their eyes. Then Alice and I reached the front of the pack. I crossed my fingers, gulped down the lump in my throat and glanced up.

I started from the top of the list down. It was again in alphabetical order. I smiled when I saw 'Alice Cullen', frowned when I saw 'Tanya Denali', and shrieked when I saw 'Bella Swan'.

"Oh my God!" Alice shrieked as well and trapped me in yet another of squealing pixie-tornado hugs. We just bounced and squealed and hugged for what seemed like for ever and then Alice texted Jasper to inform him of the good news.

Only now did Tanya saunter arrogantly up to the list. She took a quick glance, glared straight at me, and then strode away flipping her long, golden hair over her shoulder. Seriously, who does that?

Alice finished her text then beamed back up at me.

"Well Bella, I told you. One cut down; one to go."

"Yup," I nodded smiling, imagining how pissed off Tanya would be if I made the final cut as well, "Can't wait!"

And with that, we practically skipped back to our dorm to celebrate with Doritos and Cherry Coke.

* * *

**A/N: Oh Tanya. She's totally my fav character so far. Anyway next chapter is the last part of tryouts and gym class which is much more exciting. We might even get into Alice's plan for Bella's birthday...Wanna know what it is? Then review and fuel my artistic mind with vanity. Thanks for reading!**

**Love, Tetra**


	6. Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner

**Disclaimer: I do not own twilight or the * line in this chapter. That belongs to family guy I believe. **

**Chapter 6:**

The next morning I was down in the locker room taking my sweet time changing for gym class. When I'd finished I strolled reluctantly back up to the gym. It wasn't that I hated gym per se, I just thought of it as a waste of time. It hardly counted as adequate physical activity but still included all the joys of body odor and being pummeled in the head by balls.

When I entered the enormous gym I searched around trying to locate Edward and Jasper. At last I spotted them, sitting on the bleachers talking and appearing very bored. I took a deep breath and walked over to them focusing entirely on keeping my calm and not pouncing on Edward and all his sexy glory.

"Hey guys," I said taking a seat next to Edward. He smelled divine.

"Hey Bella," Edward replied. Jasper just waved and smiled due to his taciturn nature.

"So…gym…" I said not really knowing what to else say. I secretly wished Alice was here. She always had something to say even if it was completely random or embarrassing at my expense.

Edward chuckled a bit at my lack of eloquence.

"Alice told me you made the first cut Bella. That's awesome. I knew you'd make it," He said with complete confidence, emerald eyes smoldering into mine as he smirked crookedly. I didn't understand. His confidence was back. It made me wonder why he was so shy last night. Maybe he wasn't scared of me anymore?

"Oh uh, yeah! Thanks," Confident Edward was also much harder to talk to.

Then, Coach Kate called us to center.

"Okay everyone we're playing basketball today. Everyone count off by twos."

I counted off and much to my secret delight I was put on Edward's team but unfortunately Jasper was on the other. I just hoped I wouldn't let my team down by being distracted by sweaty, aggressive Edward…

* * *

About 20 minutes later I was actually having a blast. Being on Edward's team was awesome beyond belief. We were always far in the lead and I let my self get into the game knowing no matter how much I screwed up we would stay there.

It was quite amazing how truly talented Edward was at basketball. From the beginning of the game Coach only allowed him to shoot with his left hand in hopes it would even out the playing field a bit. About ten minutes later we were still dramatically in the lead and he was no longer allowed to shoot at all and could only pass and defend. It still didn't matter though. He'd just get the ball back from the other team every time they got it, passed it to me, and I'd attempt to shoot it in. Sure it would only go in about 10 percent of the time, but it's not like we needed the points anyway. The rest of my team didn't even bother and I'd come to the conclusion that the other team gave up as soon as they acknowledged Edward was opposing them.

It was quite fulfilling to actually win in gym for once and it was hilarious to see Jasper totally pissed when class ended. Boys were always so childishly competitive.

As I was walking back towards the locker room Edward high-fived me and said,

"Good job partner". I almost died.

* * *

After school I met up with Alice and we headed back to the gym for my second time today. I slipped a goofy smile when I thought about my earlier experience there when we entered.

"What are you so smiley about?" Alice questioned suspiciously.

"Oh nothing really," I covered lying terribly.

"Bella cut the shit. You can't lie to save your life,"

"Well…I played basketball with Edward earlier"

She squealed and grabbed me out of my stretch. Very painful when your pulled the wrong way might I add.

"Oh Bella I just knew you guys were meant to be!" Oh Alice and her exaggerations

"Okay I admit that I _like_ him. We're not '_meant to be'_. Just…don't tell him okay?"

"Fine…We'll do this your way…I personally think it's a waste of time though,"

"Thanks Ali,"

Then miss stunningly gorgeous cheer captain walked in.

"Hey, everyone! Congrats on making the first cut. Like I said we'll be learning a short dance and cheer today. Cuts will be easier to make this time so if you could just stick around for like a half hour or so after we're finished, I'll be posting it up! So let's get started! I'll do the dance once through for you first then I'll teach you step by step."

We all spread out so we could watch Rosalie demonstrate. She turned on a cordless boom box which played a cheer mix consisting of everything from rock to hip hop, all of which was dramatically sped up to a lightning fast pace.

Her movements were fast and sharp, and fit perfectly with the quick counts of eight she called out. The dance took her to all heights as it called for jumps at some points and dancing on floor at others. I was beginning to sweat just watching her. She however finished her performance off with a loud cheer ending in a toe touch- back tuck without breaking a sweat.

"Alright," Rosalie said easily, "I'll teach you all now, breaking everything down into counts of eight. You'll perform it for Coach Kate and me later in your groups of five. Everyone ready?"

We all nodded.

"Great. Let's get started. I'll count. 5-6-7-8,"

Here we go…

* * *

About 2 ½ hours later we were all done with tryouts and Alice and I were waiting around the gym talking with a few others girls while Rosalie made the final cuts with Coach Kate.

I'd learned and performed the dance pretty well in the short time we had and Alice assured me I was a shoe-in. That didn't suffice for the butterflies in my stomach though, and for good reason as well. I wasn't the only one who'd done a good job today, and in my opinion I wasn't a standout like yesterday. Also more than half the people who survived the first cut would be cut today and I was certain I couldn't be in the top half of such a talented crowd.

I glanced over to Alice who was talking animatedly with Maggie and Leah and secretly wished I could be like her. She was so confident, so lively; it was no wonder that she was so popular. I smiled at my wonderful friend and attempted to join in the conversation despite the overwhelming anxiety beating down on me.

"So what are we talking about?" I genuinely had no clue because I was far too preoccupied worrying.

"We were just talking about how we've been back in school for almost a week already and how shocking it is that no one's planned a party yet," Alice said this as if it was some complete absurdity.

"Why is that so shocking?" I asked.

"Because kids at this school _love_ to party Bella. I mean c'mon, private boarding school… it's like college, but even more immature," Maggie replied.

"I guess no one had anything to celebrate except for back to school. Which totally doesn't call for celebration in my book, but it's still a good excuse," Leah said laying back and crossing her arms behind her head.

Then Alice perked up dramatically and slammed both palms down on the bleacher beside her.

"But we do!" Alice gushed excitedly, eyes wide with anticipation.

"Really?! What?" Maggie asked getting excited as well.

"Well…our little Bella here is turning 17 next Saturday! Plus this can kind of be her…coming out party per se. You know, introduce her to the school and what not!"

"Oh my God that's perfect! What kind of party should we throw?" Leah said, the last of the three to totally lose her head.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa Alice. Hold up. I never agreed to any party!" I said panicking. No way was I getting some insane party planned for me. I despised parties and attention. Put them together and…ugh. Absolutely not!

"C'mon Bella, _Please_. It'll be so awesome, and I'll take care of everything. You won't have to lift a finger. If not for yourself then for me? Please, please, please!" Alice begged coming to her knees and giving me the sad puppy dog face. I hated how all the things that made Alice happy made me utterly miserable.

"Well, okay maybe if…" but she cut me off.

"Great! Thanks Bella! Okay what kind of party?" Maybe someday Alice would fix her selective hearing problem.

"We could do an ABC party!" Maggie suggested giggling. A what now?

"And that would be…" I asked.

"It stands for Anything but clothes. Aka you wear objects instead. And no. Sorry, but I feel like that can go bad fast." Alice replied. Thank god.

"What about a foam party? Those are always fun," Leah suggested.

"It just doesn't feature Bella though. It's too typical," Alice said. How is that typical? Aren't most high school parties just a bunch of drunken kids in someone's basement?

"How about just a small regular party with no theme?" I suggested even though I knew I'd be shot down anyway.

"Haha. You're so cute Bells. You know that?" Alice smiled at me. Well I tried.

Then Leah's eyes lit up. She turned to me and asked the most bizarre question.

"Bella you're a virgin right? Sorry I can just tell." What the hell?

"Umm…yes…"

Then Alice's eyes lit up too.

"Oh my God yes! Bella's a total virgin!" Oh Alice. But seriously, what the hell did this have to do with anything?

"Um, guys? Not that this isn't a lovely topic and all, but would you mind telling me what fuck you're talking about?!"

"Aztec Party," Alice said simply.

"What?" I had a bad feeling about this.

"You know?! Tiki torches, gold jewelry, tropical drinks-Oh maybe we can even have Bloody Mary's! They were the one's who did that blood letting stuff right?"

"Alice don't you think your going overboard a bit? I mean this sounds like it'll cost a fortune! And don't you need a bartender to serve Bloody Mary's? We're underage remember!"

"Well we're inviting seniors. A lot of them are eighteen,"

"Alice the drinking age is twenty-one…"*

"Oh whatever! Well get a Mexican bartender or something. They do eighteen down there right? I'll take care of it. And money is not an issue. I'm a Cullen remember? Don't worry,"

"But it's still going way overboard Al! I mean who actually has a party like this?"

"Bella you are forgetting where you go to school now. At Volterra prep we don't have lame parties in sweat pants drinking cheap piss beer. Kids at our school are wealthy, and creative, and have…competitive natures…"

"Competitive natures?"

"Meaning everyone is competitive about everything. Including parties. Which means if I'm throwing this party, it is going to kick the ass of every other party this year!" Alice slammed her tiny fist down with a determined expression gracing her equally tiny face. Yes m'am.

"Where are we gonna throw it? Obviously not at school…We'd get in huge trouble" Maggie asked.

"My family's country house. It's not that far but it's in the middle of nowhere so we won't have any neighbors to worry about. Plus we never use it, and it has a pool and stuff. Honestly it's really just a party house," Alice replied. Honestly how rich was she?

I took a second to calm down. I couldn't believe a party so wild and extravagant was going to thrown for me. I didn't have a good excuse to stop it though. We had the place, the money, the connections…it all just happened so fast before I could stop it. But maybe, just maybe, this would be good for me in a way. All Alice ever did for me was try to break me out of my shell and this was just another part of it. Just trusting her was probably the right way to go. But there was something else that I'd forgotten…something important…then I remembered.

"Wait a minute. Okay you got what you asked for but you still have yet to tell me what this has to with me being a virgin!"

"That's the whole point! We're gonna sacrifice beautiful, virgin you into a volcano!" Alice grinned exuberantly, unable to contain her enthusiasm.

Oh good lord.

Then as if I wasn't panicking enough, Rosalie strutted through the door with the list…

* * *

**A/N: And there's chapter 6! Will she make it?! haha. I decided to make this an awesome party school because high school parties are totally lame in real life. I looked up party themes online and these were my favs. There are many more hilarious ones so if your up for some laughs check it out. Anyway when I saw the Aztec Party idea it reminded me of the House Bunny and I totally had to do it! I'm super excited. Are you? I hope so. Please, please Review! Reviews make me very happy and I write more so it's better for everyone! I'm ranting now so I'll stop. Thanks for reading! I love all of you!**

**-Tetra**

* * *


	7. Oh Oh Oh Sexy Vampire

**A/N:Hey everyone! I was so happy when I got the reviews and favs for the last chapter. I received more reviews for it than any other chapter so far! I even got a threat from shiny-silver-volvo-staker! It made me feel very important and was well appreciated. I had a hard time writing this one but I pushed through it for you guys because I was so pleased with you.**

**Disclaimer- I do not own twilight, yada yada.**

* * *

The world fell silent aside from each of Rosalie's graceful steps. The butterflies were replaced by fiery stomach acid that engulfed my insides in agony. I sweat bullets from my palms and my heart raced begging my brain to let me lose control and run to list at full speed.

But my brain knew better, and it commanded me to rise slowly and join the forming crowd around Rosalie and the bulletin board. After what felt like an eternity she spoke.

"Well everyone, we're here at last and I'm confident in my decisions. You are all wonderful athletes and I'm truly sorry we couldn't take all of you. So without further ado, here is the final list. Everyone who made the team congratulations and I'll see you at our first practice after school on Monday."

She posted the list up and stepped aside. People pushed, and ran to see it. I however grasped Alice's hand in mine, and we slowly made our way to the end of the mob-like line.

We waited there, and beheld the diverse mix of emotions unfolding before us. Some cried, some screamed, some cursed, and some embraced. My heart ached for the same joy as the ones who'd made it. The pressure was almost too much for me and my brain threatened to shut down as my legs shook beneath me.

At last we were at the front and my breath sped up to the point were one could argue I was hyperventilating. I took one final gasp of sweet air and forced my gaze to the list that could quite possibly and most likely break my heart.

I repeated my strategy from the previous time and started from top to bottom again. Names that jumped out at me were Jacob Black, Leah Clearwater, Alice Cullen, Tanya Denali, Maggie Siobhan, and Bella Swan. Bella Swan!

My body acted on its own accord. A scream erupted from my chest as I launched myself open armed at Alice. This time I was the tornado hugger and I scooped my lovely little friend up as we squealed with all our might in unison. Somehow we lost all control and ended up on the ground laughing moronically and gasping for air.

"Bella!" Laugh. Gasp, "Bella this is awesome! I am so," Laugh. Gasp, "Happy!" Alice managed.

"I know Ali! Oh my God! I never," Laugh. Gasp, "I never thought," I tried but didn't finish.

We both stumbled, trying to help each other up while still laughing and tearing from shear joy. My heart was racing and I couldn't remember the last time I had been this happy. And it was all thanks to Alice.

From the corner of my eye I saw Tanya's strawberry blonde hair floating behind her as she stalked out with Jessica loyally following. I didn't know what her problem was. She'd made the team and I believed Jessica did too though I didn't bother to check. She must have some anger issues.

I wouldn't let her taint my euphoria though. I happily linked arms with Alice and we practically skipped out of the gym like the characters from 'The Wizard of Oz'.

In the doorway I spotted Jasper and Edward standing there smiling knowingly at us. Alice sprinted into Jasper's arms, flung her arms around his neck, and wrapped her legs around his waist. He chuckled at her enthusiasm and caught her lips in a sweet kiss.

Somehow through all the raw excitement, my body disregarded my mind and I ended up hugging Edward tightly before I realized what I was doing. My mind screamed at my body to let go but before it could comply Edward miraculously hugged me tightly back and chuckled. I was hugging Edward and the feeling of his rock hard body pressing against mine was one of pure ecstasy.

When we finally pulled away joy was teaming in his eyes and his smile. I had the funniest urge to bottle his expression and save it for a cloudy day. Like the cure for any sadness would be to simply see Edward smile.

I grinned stupidly back at him while one of my famous blushes flooded into my cheeks. _Stop being shy Bella! You're a cheerleader now_. Well, I suppose it might take awhile, but maybe someday.

"Well Bella, isn't this just fabulous?!" Alice said with a devilish, overly exuberant grin. Oh no. She saw me hugging Edward. Perfect.

"Yes Alice. It is," I tried to slip some threat into my words but I couldn't. Being even remotely mad at Alice was just a complete impossibility at the moment. She was the cause of all this exceptional bliss.

"I'm so proud of both of you. But if you don't mind, I've got some exciting news as well," Jasper said proudly, his arm around Alice's waist.

"What is it babe?" Alice asked.

"Well I got a call this afternoon from 'The Panic Room', a goth nightclub in the city. A band that was playing there tonight cancelled last minute and I told them that 'Cyber Playground' would be happy to fill in for them," Jasper said unable to hide his grin.

"No way! Jazz I'm so proud of you guys. We're all totally coming. What a great way to celebrate!" Alice exclaimed.

"Wait a nightclub? As in twenty-one and older?" I asked. I really wanted to support Jasper but we couldn't just disregard the age issue. Jasper could get in because he was performing but surely we weren't given the same benefits.

"Yes," Alice said simply as if she didn't register the blatantly obvious problem I'd brought to attention.

"And we aren't twenty-one," I pushed further hoping she'd understand.

"Yes," She stated again still not comprehending.

"Alice. We aren't twenty-one meaning we can't get into a twenty-one and older nightclub," I said stating the issue as clearly as I knew possible.

"Of course we can Bella," she smiled. I mentally smacked myself in the face.

"How Alice?"

"Fake IDs silly!" Leave it to Alice to practically yell that illegal prospect in a public area.

"Alice I don't know about you, but I don't have one," I whispered under my breath. I wasn't quite as oblivious to the world around us.

"Of course you do. Jasper got one made for you. He knows a guy named J. Jenks. He's expensive, but the product is top notch. Supposedly you could get past the police with them. Well according to Emmett's tall tales anyway…Besides they don't even really care there. Trust me I went before and they didn't even card me. Me Bella! If little 4'10"me can waltz right in, they won't even bother with you. Kids from our school go there all the time," Alice assured.

"Well I don't know…" I'd never done anything this rebellious before, but I kind of liked the idea. I mean I wasn't stealing a car or anything; it was just something a little hot blooded…well, for me anyway.

Then, Edward rested his large hand on my shoulder.

"It'll be fine. I promise," he assured me. I don't know why but that sealed it.

"Okay, fine. But if I get caught I'm dragging you all down with me!" I joked.

"Don't worry Bella. I'd take all the blame," Edward assured me again, sending electric shocks through my body.

"Awesome! Bella and I need to shop now though. Friday night at 'The Panic Room' is always vampire night!" Alice squealed.

Vampire night? Shopping? Oh Dear…

* * *

"Bella put this on!" Alice commanded, tossing another black, lacy corset into my dressing room.

As soon as Alice had demanded a shopping trip, she'd dragged me to her yellow Porsche and floored it the whole way there, minus the red lights and stop signs. We were currently in a Hot Topic at Alice's precious mall and were trying on outfits much too revealing and outrageous for my comfort zone.

"Alice, I don't understand why 'vampire' is translated into 'slutty, goth corset' in your language," I spat, trying to figure out the complicated lacing pattern of the corset for the umpteenth time.

"Well Bella, I'm sorry. Why don't you go find us a real vampire and ask them what they like to wear?!" Alice said sarcastically.

I chuckled. It was true. It wasn't as if we actually knew what vampire's wore. They could wear expensive designer originals for all we knew. But what Alice was putting me in was what others at the club would be sporting, so in all fairness I couldn't exactly argue with her. Not that arguing with Alice would ever be an intelligent idea anyway.

"Bella, let me see," Alice practically begged, anticipation dripping in her tone.

I came out and she squealed with delight. I had to admit I was partial to this outfit as well. It wasn't nearly as cheap looking or gaudy as the others and wasn't even considered as lingerie. It was actually a short, black mini dress with a bodice that laced up with royal blue satin ribbon in the back. The same ribbon accented the front across the strapless neckline.

"Sexy mama!" Alice exclaimed, bouncing and clapping her hands, "Now we just need some temporary blue highlights for your hair, some heels, some body glitter-I know 90's right?-, some black eyeliner, and some fake blood". Seriously, did she just plan this all out?

We purchased our 'necessities', then Alice dragged me back to our dorm to get ready.

* * *

I meticulously inspected Alice's work in the mirror. Staring back at me was definitely not the Bella I knew. Instead, she was replaced by some sexy, enticing vampire that would have human men bowing at her feet at the snap of her fair fingers. I really had no clue what Alice did to me, but I knew that I loved it and I felt power and confidence rushing through my veins; feelings immensely unfamiliar to me.

Alice looked stunning as well. She wore a two piece outfit consisting of a red and black corset, a black mini skirt, and sexy, knee high black boots. I wondered briefly whether she was crossing the stripper line at one point, but then I realized that Alice had such a classy demeanor that she could never appear that way. Besides, I was fully certain even now that her outfit would appear conservative to some of the other 'vampire's' we would run into.

There was a brisk knock on our door. I looked over at Alice who appeared quite frustrated, poking at one of the jewels she'd placed near the corner of her eye.

"I'll get it Al," I giggled.

"Thanks, babe," She replied, still fooling with the jewel.

I opened the door to the hottest, sexiest, most drool-worthy 'vampire' that could ever possibly walk the face of the earth. Edward smiled crookedly at me and then much to my delight looked me up and down, giving me the perfect excuse to ogle him further.

He wore very dark straight leg jeans that hung dangerously low on his sculpted hipbones, a black button-up with the sleeves casually rolled up to his forearms and the top buttons left undone, partially exposing his chiseled upper chest and collarbone to my hungry eyes, and a red tie hanging loosely around his neck that I wanted to wrap my fingers around and use as a leash…

He cleared his throat and then bit his lip and licked it. Was he being shy again? Maybe I should ask Alice if he had some kind of bizarre personality disorder.

"Um, wow. New clothes Bella?" It was so cute the way he said it. It was as if he wanted to compliment me but forgot how to. Maybe my miraculous makeover could help me catch his attention? Well, maybe I shouldn't wish for the impossible. But still, it might give me enough confidence to talk to him and befriend him officially and not just through his sister.

"You look pretty fine yourself, Edward," I teased. Wow. Where the hell did that come from? Did I just sort-of-kind-of flirt to him? My cheeks set on fire and my eyes dropped to the floor, but not before I saw a puzzled expression grace his face and his cheeks tint pink as well. Great. Now the rest of the night would be awkward because he'd be scared of me flirting to him. I couldn't help it though. He was just so utterly-ugh.

Alice joined us then, after completing her primping session. She gave her twin the once over, dabbed some fake blood on his neck for bite marks, and then smiled, quite satisfied with his appearance.

"Well bro' if you're done trying to seduce my best friend here, then whose car are we taking?" She stated, with no teasing in her voice and grabbing her keys. Leave it to Alice to make the situation ten times more awkward by pretending that he was trying to seduce me and not the other way around. I wished Jasper was here to fix things and not rehearsing with his band at the club.

"Sorry little sis', no way are we risking our lives letting you drive in your hooker boots. I'm driving," He stated definitely, smirking while spinning his keys around his index finger. His confidence was back again! Alice and I were going to have a very long talk about her family's mental background.

"Fine," Alice whined, "But you're not drinking".

"Never would I risk two such lovely young ladies' lives. Well one anyway…" He teased, sneering distastefully at Alice.

"Whatever loser. Let's just go!" Alice spat.

We grabbed our coats and headed to the parking lot, pumped for our night out as vampires.

* * *

**A/N: Yayayayay! Bella is now a cheerleader! Please Review in exchange for my love and more chapters. **

**Thanks for reading!**

**-Tetra**


	8. Vampires Will Never Hurt You

**A/N: I was so happy when you guys reviewed the last chapter. I recieved 28 which was way more than even last chapter! I almost cried I swear. I'm so glad you guys like it. Anyway sorry this one took longer to come out, but it's a longer one and I had a really hard time writing it with school and stuff. It came out ASAP. Also for those who are confused with the vampire thing, this is an all human story. Sorry, I should have been clearer. Um..what else? Oh ya, Emmett lovers. Don't worry, he's coming. He's just not quite as important as these 4. I mean if you think about it, Bella has only been there for 3 1/2 days. I just write a lot. So, I think thats it. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer-I do not own twilight, any song titles, or any beverage names. So pretty much, my life sucks.**

* * *

There were few things I despised more than having to wait in line. One of those things happened to be waiting in line with the overwhelming anxiety that it would lead you straight to prison. I just so happened to be in one of those lines at the moment, surrounded by strange, intimidating people dressed as vampires. _Keep it cool Bella. Keep it cool…or you'll get caught._

Edward, Alice, and I had just arrived at 'The Panic Room' nightclub just moments ago, and my body was still convulsing from the terrifying drive. For some reason it seemed that to be Cullen you must believe yourself exceptional to all laws, including speed limits, and you must drive to all destinations as if you were racing to save your life on a NASCAR speedway.

I glanced swiftly behind us and realized that we were no longer the last ones in the roped line. Well, no turning back now unless we wished to trample over some very frightening clubbers. It was probably for the best not to turn back now anyway. I wasn't positive that my body could endure Edward's driving again so soon without having to check into a psychiatric ward.

I peered over at Alice who was waiting calmly, only slightly irked that we had wait in line. There was no apprehension emanating from her body as there was from mine. She was just picking at her cuticles around the jet black nails she'd just applied polish to.

It was so irritating that she had the ability to stay tranquil at the times when my chest was heaving and I was choking down vomit. No matter what the situation, I was always the walking panic attack and she was the queen of serenity.

My gaze then slid from Alice to her stunningly gorgeous twin. He caught me staring at him and gave me a dazzling crooked grin. My heart sped up and pumped blood right to my cheeks as usual.

I smiled timidly back at him and forced myself to stay locked in his gaze. As pleasing as it was to look at him, I was still struggling to stare into his striking, emerald eyes without looking away. I'd always had a problem with keeping eye contact with boys, but this was different. The spell they put me under was painful. I surrendered and ripped my eyes free of his torturous ones.

It was impossible for me to fight it. His eyes were so soulful and intense that they burned through me like fire in my veins. They electrified my muscles and gouged into my heart until it bled for him. And it only bled for him. It was its own way of crying out in agony to the man it lusted for so exclusively and exceptionally.

Ugh. This was definitely more than just me projecting my loneliness after my parents' divorce or trying to find stability in a world that had turned upside down for me. This infatuation was disgustingly unhealthy and irrational. I mean sure he was beyond gorgeous. And maybe he was also extremely intelligent and talented. And maybe that amazing body of his just happened to contain the most beautiful soul in the world. But still, I've only known him for 3 days! I needed to get over this absurd, uncontrollable obsession with him. Fast.

He sighed from impatience and ran his strong fingers through his sexy, bronze locks. My heart tried to beat its way out of my chest to reach him.

Ugh. Never mind. Maybe I just needed to get really drunk. After all, there was a first time for everything and what better excuse than him?

I was so preoccupied with my thoughts of Edward that a voice startled me.

"I'm sorry, what?" I asked the man who had spoken. It was the bouncer at the head of the line that had seemingly disappeared while I was thinking. Had we really been waiting that long?

Alice wasn't one to blow her cover, but I could tell how horrified she was that I drawing attention to us by making him repeat a statement I should have heard.

"I said ID please," Oh man, he looked suspicious! Shit! I gave it to him.

He grabbed it from my hand and inspected it more closely than should have been necessary. He peeked up at me and back down at it twice confirming the resemblance. Finally, he handed it back.

"Alright. Have fun," he grumbled. Wow. Those fake IDs really were top notch. Thank you J. Jenks!

Alice and Edward joined me soon after. Of course he let them right in, barely glancing at their identification. Why was I so bad at being…well, bad? I suppose it's an art.

"Only you, Bella," Alice giggled in my ear as we entered the club.

Yes only me…

* * *

As soon as we crossed the threshold I was deafened by the thunderously loud music. Neon lights of every color flashed though the relative darkness. When my eyes adjusted to the lighting, I was quite impressed by the amount creativity put into decorating the club for 'vampire night'. Everything from bar to the stage was black or blood red and designed with intricate gothic detail. There were realistic looking coffins decorating the eastern wall with smoke flowing out of them for a dramatic effect. Fake blood stains splattered the dark walls and furniture which looked more medieval, torture devices. Filthy looking metal cages hung from the ceiling and, though there were none tonight, I shuttered at the thought of what strippers at this club must look like. On the same level of the cages was a second floor that acted as a large balcony which surrounded the club entirely.

The clubbers were even more terrifying and unique than the club itself. Each body was wrapped in peculiar, gothic attire and accessorized with leather, body jewelry, chains, and fangs. Their hair styles were creative and, more often than not, dyed an unnatural shade or spiked and cut in a rebellious fashion. Their lips were painted red and their skin was powdered white. In truth their styles fascinated me, but many just appeared so intimidating that I was positive they'd bite me if I came anywhere near them. Sort of silly, but not really. They were 'vampires' after all.

Alice tapped my shoulder.

"Isn't this freaking awesome?!" She squealed, eyes teaming with excitement.

"Yeah," I squeaked. Yes, it was awesome but it also freaked the hell out me.

"When's Jasper playing?" Edward questioned her.

"Uh, any minute now I guess," She replied glancing at her phone which she somehow managed to store in her bra, "They're opening and it's already nine thirty".

"So…what now?" I asked anyone who would answer. It felt so awkward just standing there, by the entrance.

"Duh! We dance!" Alice replied enthusiastically, grabbing both mine and Edward's hands and dragging us towards the dance floor of the undead.

Well, I've lived a good life.

Of course Alice being Alice dragged us not only to the edge of the mob but rather plowed us through crowd to the center and closer to the stage. I had no doubt that if she had it her way, she'd try to find her way onto the stage as well. Thank God the stairs to it were blocked off to save poor, hyperventilating Bella.

I wasn't exactly sure what prerequisites Alice used for deciding a spot, but I was glad when she finally stopped her yanking.

"Perfect!" she declared. Perfect wasn't the word I'd use to describe suffocation by a mob of 'vampires'.

As if on cue, the music stopped and the stage lights came on. I saw Jasper stride onstage followed by Leah's brother Seth, the lead guitarist, Benjamin, the drummer, and Riley, the bassist. They were all decked out in vampire attire too and I smiled at the thought of sweet, little Seth Clearwater as a vampire.

Jasper walked up to the microphone and spoke into it.

"How's everyone doin' tonight?!" He yelled and the crowd cheered.

"I'm Jasper and this is my band, Cyber Playground. We're here to pump you guys up for all of the awesome performers tonight. We picked this set out just for you guys. So what do you say? Shall we get this undead party started?!" He yelled, and held the microphone out to the crowd. Everyone cheered again.

"Alright let's do this!" He yelled.

* * *

Jasper was an amazing performer and got the crowd dancing and moshing like there was no tomorrow. It was so insane to watch the shy, serene, Jasper I knew break out of his shell in the midst of doing what he loved. He ran all around the stage, sang his heart out, and played so hard his fingers bled (much to the excitement of the 'vampire' crowd).

Since they were only opening, their set list consisted of only six cover songs; 'Miss Murder', 'Somebody Told Me'(for Alice's love of The Killers), 'The Church of Hot Addiction', 'Thank You for the Venom', 'Monsters', and one final song they had yet to play. At the conclusion of 'Monsters' the crowd erupted in cheers.

"Alright guys, it's been awesome but unfortunately this is our last song," He stated and the crowd whined with disappointment.

"I know, I know. We'll come back soon if they let us, I promise. Anyway we saved my favorite song for last. So thanks guys, it's been awesome." He said and started to play softly.

_Until the day I die  
I'll spill my heart for you, for you  
Until the day I die  
I'll spill my heart for you…_

(The music sped up and Jasper started playing harder)

As years go by  
I race the clock with you  
But if you died right now  
You know that I'd die too  
I'd die too

You remind me of the times  
When I knew who I was (I was)  
But still the second hand will catch us  
Like it always does

We'll make the same mistakes  
I'll take the fall for you  
I hope you need this now  
Cause I know I still do!

Until the day I die (Until the day I die)  
I'll spill my heart for you  
Until the day I die (Until the day I die)  
I'll spill my heart for you

Should I bite my tongue?  
Until blood soaks my shirt?  
We'll never fall apart  
Tell me why this hurts

_So much_  
(He screamed the next part)

My hands are at your throat  
And I think I hate you  
But still we'll say, "remember when"  
Just like we always do  
Just like we always do!

Until the day I die (Until the day I die)  
I'll spill my heart for you  
Until the day I die (Until the day I die)  
I'll spill my heart for you

_Yeah I'd spill!_

_My heart!  
Yeah I'd spill my heart for you!  
_

(He started singing again)_  
My hands are at your throat  
And I think I hate you  
We made the same mistakes  
Mistakes like friends do_

My hands are at your throat  
And I think I hate you  
We made the same mistakes  
Made the same mistakes…

(The music slowed again)

_  
Until the day I die  
I'll spill my heart for you, for you_

Until the day I die (Until the day I die)  
I'll spill my heart for you, for you  
Until the day I die (Until the day I die)  
I'll spill my heart for you  
Until the day I die (Until the day I die)

(He finished screaming)

_Until the day I die!_

The entire club erupted with applause for them. Jasper simply bowed and nodded like his usual self and waved as he and his band made their way off the stage.

"I'm gonna go find Jazz okay?" Alice said to Edward and I. Jasper's performance was so incredible I'd forgotten she was even here.

"Meet us at the bar okay?" I said. I was so parched and determined to escape the heat of the dance floor. Besides tonight was my night to be rebellious and break the rules. I'd already snuck into a nightclub; might as well do this properly and drink too.

Alice nodded quickly and sprinted off before I remembered that her leaving meant being alone with Edward.

"Shall we?" I said to Edward as I searched around for an escape from the crowd.

"I'll lead," he smiled, taking my hand and pushing our way out.

* * *

Surprisingly, there were only two other customers at the bar when Edward and I sat down. Having already served the other two, the bartender came right to us. He was an average looking man, but for some reason seemed he incredibly intimidating, to the point I almost feared him. His eyes were black as coal and his skin was white as snow. I decided that if there were such a thing as a real vampire, it would look exactly like him. He had no fake fangs, short brown hair, and wore just a simple black shirt yet he outdid all the other 'vampires' in the building.

"What can I get for you?" He asked in a deep voice, black eyes transfixed in mine.

I realized I had absolutely no idea. My knowledge of alcoholic beverages was minimal, if that. I'd never actually ordered an alcoholic drink before. The few things I'd had in the past were just given to me at events like New Years Eve parties or weddings. I had no awareness of their names or their alcoholic content. Worse yet I had never even been drunk and no clue of my tolerance level. I had been so caught up in my rebellion that I'd forgotten how truly innocent I was until now.

"Uh…what would you suggest?" I asked in a vain attempt to save myself from embarrassment. He smiled knowingly back at me.

"We've got a lot of good drinks here; Bloody Marys, Bloody Martinis, Blood Clots, Brain Hemorages…" I cut him off.

"Anything not named after blood?" I asked desperately. He looked even more amused.

"Sure. Vampires, Bat Bites…" I was beginning to get more irritated than intimidated. Then he laughed dangerously.

"Oh and there's always the good old 'I'm-nowhere-near-twenty-one-and-got-in-with-a-fake-ID'". Shit! I glanced over at Edward who had the same 'shoot me now' expression.

"Wh-what are you talking about?!" I blurted out panicked.

"Jenks does fine work my friends." Completely busted. I almost cried.

"Don't worry your pretty little head, my lips are sealed. I'm James and you are…"

"Bella," I don't know what the fuck possessed me to say my real name. I suppose I was just so shocked that we'd gotten caught and let free in the same thirty seconds that my brain wasn't functioning properly.

"Well Bella, how about I just get you both a beer. Free of charge," He winked at me. Before I could say anything he pulled two glasses from under the counter, filled them up right in front of us, and set them down on the bar.

"Uh, thanks. Um, James," I said as I took a first sip, only drinking it because he'd filled them right in front of us where we could see him.

"No problem," He replied, then leaned in to whisper in my ear, "Just promise you'll come to me first, next time you're headed to a bar". I just nodded in response before he left us to serve some new customers at the opposite end of the bar. No way would I ever drink here again.

"Wow that was scary," I said turning to Edward.

"What the hell did he say to you?!" Edward growled through his teeth. Jasper and Alice did say he had a temper.

"He told me to come back next time I was going to a bar," Now Edward looked very concerned.

"Don't worry about it Edward. I'm sure he's harmless and he can't do anything with all these people here. Let's just finish our drinks and go dance or something. I'm sure Jasper and Alice totally forgot about us and are already out there," I said gulping down the rest of my beer that I had drunken too fast.

I looked at his glass which was still perfectly full, and remembered he wasn't drinking. It made me wonder why he had followed me to the bar instead of following Alice in search of his best friend. I was suddenly anxious that she might have run into someone like James on her way to Jasper.

No, I assured myself. She could take care of herself. She didn't attract trouble like I did and she could sure as hell fend for herself better. Yes, she would be fine.

If I should be worrying about anything it should be that I'd accidentally asked Edward to dance. I couldn't get out of it either because stalling at the bar was not an option if we wanted to get away from its creepy bartender.

Minus the fact that Edward made me nervous, dancing actually did sound like fun though. I loved to dance and was excellent at it. Plus, I was in my confident vampire attire…Hmm, maybe I just needed a little extra confidence…

I snatched Edward's full glass before he could object and downed it. Probably not the most intelligent idea, but he would have stopped me otherwise.

"Uh, Bella are you sure that was a good idea…" Edward asked, shock written all over his face. Hmm, nope. Probably not. Sure it was just beer, but I was practically an alcoholic virgin, 110 pounds, and I hadn't eaten since lunchtime.

"Never waste, Edward. There are starving children in Africa who don't… have… beer…uh, let's go," I grabbed his wrist and lead him back into the dance floor from hell.

* * *

Alice and Jasper were mostly likely in the center of the crowd dancing so Edward and I didn't even bother. I wanted to find them, but there was no way I'd go back in there from free will alone. It was a suicide mission. I decided it was best to just dance on the edge of the mass and let them find us themselves.

And so that was just what we did. We danced alone, and it was incredible. All nervousness ceased to exist in me. The alcohol had absorbed quickly due to my empty stomach and though I felt a little strange, I wasn't drunk thankfully. Just…free, utterly free.

I danced, spoke, and laughed with Edward all while looking straight into eyes. It was so surreal; like I was a different person but completely the same. The invisible barrier I'd surrounded myself with since childhood just momentarily collapsed to reveal the real me hiding behind it. I was glad it was in front of Edward. I wanted him to see me like this all the time, not just when I was partially intoxicated.

We weren't grinding like everyone else. I wasn't nearly drunk enough for that. We just danced together casually and played a game of twenty questions to get to know each other better. Our game was lasting much longer than twenty questions, though.

"Favorite color?" He asked as he spun me around playfully.

"Umm…green," I replied. Your eye color to be exact.

"Favorite sport?" I asked.

"Basketball. No competition," He stated.

"Favorite song?" He questioned.

"'Sweet Child of Mine'," I wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Worst fear?"

"Um, someone I love dying," He set his hands on my waist.

"Perfect date?" One with you…

"Pfft. As if I ever had one," I laughed

"No seriously,"

"Um, okay this is nerdy so don't laugh promise?"

"Promise," His eyes burned into mine and I was positive it was the truth. It was so pleasant to actually be able to look into them.

"Well, I'm not much of a 'dinner and movies' type. I'd probably want to go to an aquarium or a science center or something. It's just stuff that I find fascinating but wouldn't have the guts to ask a friend to go with me. So if I was invited, I'd be really happy. I know, geeky right?" Well I guess I could still blush because I felt one burn lightly in my cheeks. I wasn't impervious to embarrassment from the alcohol, just more open to the world.

"No, I don't think so. It just shows that you're intelligent and interesting. I like that stuff too," He replied perfectly serious.

He pulled in closer and I inhaled his delicious smell. Oh dear lord.

His face scrunched slightly in what looked like indecision or contemplation. After what seemed like an eternity he finally spoke, sounding like 'Shy Edward' again.

"Bella, do you…" But he was cut off.

"Bella Swan and Edward Cullen!" Alice yelled, tiny fists balling in anger.

"I have been looking for you everywhere! Do you have any idea what time it is?!"

"No…" How should I know? I didn't have the amazing talent of 'phone-bra-storing'.

"It's one thirty! If we aren't back by two we'll get in trouble." Shit, really?

But I couldn't leave now. I would be back to my regular self tomorrow! Besides, since when did she care about getting in trouble?

But wait, a minute…one thirty. Did the alcohol really last this long? It was absorbed right away. Then it hit me. Maybe, it didn't last that long. Maybe, I was just embarrassed a few moments ago because it actually had worn off. Maybe, I'd just believed it was there to help me. Maybe, some of that was really…me. But it couldn't have been, could it?

"Bella are you even listening to me?!" Alice asked highly irritated.

"I'm sorry what?" She sighed.

"I said we have to leave. Like now," She said in a softer, but still urgent voice.

"Oh, Okay," I said.

Edward and I proceeded to follow her and Jasper out of the club.

Well, I guess I'll never know.

* * *

**A/N: Was Bella completely sober? What did Edward want to say? Why am I asking you these questions? Haha.**

**I used James' description from the book and not the movie. He is not a vampire and is unimportant. I just love him and wanted to include him. We'll get back into cheerleading next chapter. Thank God. This was a hard write for me. Anyway Please, Please, Please REVIEW! I know your out there non-reviewing-people. Don't think I don't know. **

**Thanks for reading!**

**-Tetra**


	9. In Fate's Hands

**A/N: This chapter is punishment for all those who didn't review and shattered my heart into thousands of pieces. Haha. Nah just yanking ya. This was going to happen anyway. Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer-I do not own Twilight or the * line which is from Coyote Ugly. **

* * *

At six years old, I was told by my mother that death was peaceful and easy when my pet hamster, Bubbles, died. Ever since then I'd believed this to be nothing but the absolute truth. I'd never known how completely and utterly wrong she was. Death was painful, brutal, and unimaginably difficult.

How should I know? Simple. I was dying right at this very moment and it was anything but easy.

My muscles tensed in excruciating agony as they died. My lungs heaved in shallow, insufficient breaths to calm the fire that burned through my chest to no avail. My mind was tortured, screaming with nothing but thoughts of self-pity and woe.

Why was I dying? That answer was simple as well. It was Monday after school and Rosalie had decided to murder all her teammates by declaring this week 'Conditioning Week'. This was her military sergeant side that I'd heard so much about. But it was so much worse than that. At this point in time she was more like an evil dictator from hell.

"Let's go people! Just one more mile and we're half way there!" Rosalie yelled. The darkest, blackest pit of hell to be precise.

Our entire squad was currently beginning our first practice with a 'brisk' three and a half mile run on the grueling cross-country course. It was a course full of hills, low branches, rocks, and stray tree roots. Lucky me.

Alice being the athletic ball of energy she was, enthusiastically ran with Rosalie at the head of the pack leaving me near the back to die alone.

Branch. Duck. Hill. Heave. Tree root. Trip and fall. Ugh.

"You alright there, fresh meat?" asked none other than the exceptionally well built and gorgeous Jacob Black who'd stunted with Alice that first day of try outs. He had stopped his run to hold out his hand and offer me a pitiful but amused smile.

"No, not really," I admitted as I gratefully gripped his giant hand. I smiled shyly back at him and looked straight into his welcoming, brown eyes. Why couldn't it be this simple with Edward?

"Yeah, I remember my first run on this team. Not the most pleasant experience. Actually I was running all through August to prepare myself for our 'initiation torture,'" He laughed and I did as well.

"How about I run with you?" He asked.

"That'd be great. I mean, as long and you don't mind running at my pace. I don't think I could keep up with yours," I laughed.

"Hey I was behind you, remember?" That was true. What was he doing back there?

"Oh yeah! What were you doing back there?" I asked as we resumed our run.

"Well okay, don't judge me on this. I was sticking to the back for awhile to scope out the new team members. See what we've got to work with you know?" He replied.

"No, I guess that-pant- makes sense. Veteran checkin' out the-pant- newbies. So what do you think about us so far?" Casual conversation was quite a challenge while dying.

"I think queenie did pretty good job this year. Everyone seems great. Of course, some are better than others," He laughed. Hey was he teasing me?

"And so I'm one of the 'others' am I, Mr. Cheerleader?" He smiled.

"No, you are very much one of the 'some', Miss Gymnast." Really? Or was he just saying that?

"How did you know I was a gymnast?" I asked.

"Well, you were obviously new to stunting and cheering so a cheerleader was out. You can pick up a combination easily, but your arms are too muscular for you to be a dancer. And last but not least, that was some of the most badass tumbling I've ever seen. Ergo, you must be a gymnast," He gave me a sexy smile. I couldn't believe he'd actually picked up on all of that. The gym was packed with people during tryouts. Though it sounded slightly odd, I couldn't help feeling sufficiently flattered that he'd singled me out like that.

"Badass tumbling huh?" I couldn't help but to flirt a bit. He was quite attractive.

"Second to none. Well, except mine of course." He lifted his hand to his chest and feigned an exceedingly pompous expression. I giggled. Like, _giggled_, giggled.

The strangest emotion spread from my heart to my body. It made me feel almost guilty. As if I was cheating on Edward or something. My brain told it 'boohoo'. I was simply talking to Jacob. There was no crime in that. Hell, I could marry him and I wouldn't be doing anything wrong. Edward and I weren't dating. We were even close to dating. My heart believed in absurd wishful thinking.

"So I take it you've been cheering awhile then?" I asked him.

"Yup, since freshman year,"

"Why did you do it?" He laughed because he knew I actually meant 'why the hell would you want to be a male cheerleader?'

"Well I actually came to this school hoping to play football, but when I saw how crappy the team was I decided against it. I would've played basketball but I kinda suck at it. So I decided, hell, why not give cheerleading a shot? I mean, what's better than a legitimate excuse to semi-feel up hot cheerleaders and get commended for it?" He teased.

"Pervert," I playfully shoved his shoulder. He was so easy to flirt with. Then my irritating heart yelled at me again. Stupid, sexy Edward.

"Hey just joking, I'm not that sick! Well maybe I thought about it then, but not anymore. I am really serious about the team now though,"

"Half a mile left people! Let's speed it up," Rosalie turned and commanded from the front jogging backwards, "and I want all you slacker veterans at the front of this pack in the next minute or I'll make you run an extra mile!" She turned back around and I saw all the 'slacker veterans' speed up. I glanced to Jacob and he smiled apologetically.

"Sorry Bella, duty calls," He apologized.

"Go ahead Jacob. Don't worry about me," I urged him.

"Thanks Bella," he said speeding ahead before turning around again, "Oh and Bella?"

"Yeah?" I panted from the quickened pace.

"Call me Jake," He smiled and then bolted to the front of the pack.

Yum. No, not yum! Oh dear…

* * *

At the end of our run Alice rejoined me, and Rosalie put the icing on the cake by ordering us to do 150 crunches and 100 pushups before stretching. If this conditioning failed to kill me I would have one rocking body when we were done. It was so intense I was unable to think of anything but my aching body. Not about my party. Not about my family. Not about Jacob. Not about Edward.

"Alright, everyone line up facing me," Rosalie yelled. Sir yes sir!

"There are rules on this that squad everyone should be aware of. If you can't handle them, get out now. Because if you screw up later in the year, I will come after you and you are going to wish you had run now. Rule number one; no body jewelry. If your belly ring gets ripped out during a stunt and you get sent to the hospital, I will not pity you. I will make your life a living hell for being an idiot. Rule number two; no missing practice. I don't care how sick you are. If you are on this campus you will come to this gym and at least watch if nothing else. Rule number three; no slacking. If you do not give me your all everyday, your ass is off this team. Rule number four; no dropping your teammates. If your flier falls, you will catch them at all costs. Even if you have to jump on the floor to catch them, do it. People break bones, are paralyzed, and even die from cheerleading. If any one body fully hits the ground without their bases even breaking their fall, the entire squad will drop everything and run a mile. Do I make myself clear?" She said.

We all nodded or mumbled a 'yes'.

"Good," She started down the line, inspecting everyone. I saw several people removing their body jewelry and putting it into a small Ziploc bag provided by Rosalie which she then proceeded to put into a larger one. When she reached Alice she smiled.

"Alice Cullen what am I going to do with you?" Rosalie sighed, handing her the Ziploc bag. Alice proceeded to remove the many earrings from her excessively pierced ears and dropped them in the bag.

"Nose ring, Alice?" Rosalie pushed.

"How did you see it? It's clear! Ugh. Can't I just tape over it?" Alice begged.

"Fine. But only because I love you," Rosalie teased. Wow it was so freaky to see the way Rosalie was around her friends. It was like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide. Then her demeanor changed again as she turned to me.

"Let me see your wrists,"* Rosalie commanded. What?

"Are you kidding?"* Maybe I didn't hear her correctly.

"Do I look like I'm kidding?"* I extended my arms to her and she bent my wrists back and forth as she inspected them. She seemed pleased.

"What are you looking for exactly?" I asked.

"Wrist strength for tumbling and stunting. I think I'm going to like you Bella," She stated simply and then moved on. Wow really?

After Rosalie had inspected the entire team she returned to the front.

"Okay, we've still got about a half hour left so I'm going to assign stunting groups. These will change occasionally in routines but for now you will stick with your assigned partner or group," said Rosalie.

She called out a few names, and then surprised me with her next statement.

"Bella Swan and Jacob Black," She said. He was probably the most skilled guy on the squad since he was asked to demonstrate with Alice. I wondered whether he was assigned to me because I was really bad and needed help or because I was actually talented and we would fit well together. I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach it was the first theory.

"Well, Bella I suppose you are my destiny," Jake surprised me.

"Either that or you bribed Rosalie so you could stalk me," I chuckled and he joined me.

"Who told you about that?" he teased. I giggled. My heart growled.

"So Bella I'm assuming you're new to partner stunting aren't you?" Jake asked.

"I'm basically new to stunting period," I admitted.

"Well, starting fresh is never bad I guess. Especially, when you have such a talented teacher," He was so cute. Even just a friendship with him would be wonderful. It didn't even have to be romantic. 'Not that I was against it', my brain added. My heart argued otherwise. Ugh. I really needed to stop personifying my organs. I was boarding on schizophrenia.

Jacob moved close behind me and gripped my waist. I was wearing a sports bra so it was smooth bare skin to rough bare hands. My stomach tingled at the sensation.

"Okay Bella, we'll start off with a simple toss chair. I do most of the work with this one. Put your hands on mine and stand on your toes leaning slightly toward me," He stated. I did as he said.

"I'll count. On three dip and jump up. When we've reached full height let go of my wrists and bend you right knee. Remember to stay tight. I'll catch your butt with one hand and hold your other leg to my chest. Okay?" He asked. He was going to touch my butt? I wasn't sure if I should feel embarrassed or excited. I felt the familiar fire burn my cheeks pink. Thank God he was behind me and couldn't see.

He counted and bounced me up until I crashed into his chest. He set me back down.

"Don't jump back so much Bella. Just angle it and get a good start off the ground," He instructed.

I did as he said and this time we almost succeeded until I lost stability and fell. After a few more tries we actually succeeded and I screamed with joy in my head. It really wasn't that awkward having his hand where it was when I was up there. I was too busy concentrating.

I was so lucky to have been partnered with him. He was strong, patient, talented, and an excellent teacher. I was even able to get the dismount by the end of practice. I had no doubt in my mind that I could catch up easily with him.

When I was more comfortable with the stunt was when the problem arose, however, as thoughts about his fingers crept into my mind. I thought about how long and strong they were. About their proximity to a certain clandestine area of my body. How if they moved but an inch to the left…Shut up Bella! I cursed my hormonally challenged almost-seventeen year old body and how it would heat from his every touch. How my mind would fantasize about what it'd never had and urged me to find out about. How it made me praise the heart I had scolded all day long for it's will and integrity.

My heart was always right though. I didn't know Jacob. It was just an attraction. I needed to block these thoughts from my mind no matter how many times Jake gripped my bare waist or my backside.

The problem was, my heart was also painstakingly set on Edward and I couldn't understand why. I barely knew him any more than I knew Jacob. It made me wonder if sometimes it could be wrong or irrational. If it was flawed, just as my sick teenage mind was. If it could fail me.

* * *

After practice ended Alice and I started making our way back to our dorm before dinner.

"Alice, what do you know about Jacob?" I asked her nonchalantly.

"He's a nice guy I guess. Friendly, outgoing-wait why?" She glared suspiciously.

"Well I'm partnered with him now," I stated to trying to hide my true reasoning.

"Bella you don't like him do you?!" Alice practically screamed at me with an ominous look in her eyes.

"Whoa I didn't say that! I don't even know him. I really can't say yet, but I felt something there. Why does he have a girlfriend or something?" I asked frightened.

"Well no, but what about Edward?!" She was now more in a state of panic than anger.

"What about Edward Alice? I mean yeah he's amazing, but there's nothing there between us. I'm always so panicked and nervous around Edward, but Jacob…I can talk to him, and flirt with him-" Alice cut me off with the anger flaring in her eyes again. What was with her family and rapidly changing emotions?

"Flirt with him! You flirted with him?! And what do you mean you have nothing with Edward? That's why you're so nervous around him, because you like him so much!"

"Well maybe so, Alice, but if you're forgetting, he has to like me back!" I argued, tears threatening my eyes before a single tear spilled over.

All anger and panic drained from Alice as she took in that first tear. Then she wrapped her arms around me.

"I'm so sorry Bella. I didn't mean to get angry. I just want to see you happy," She soothed patting my back as I sobbed into her bony shoulder.

"I know Alice. It's just that even if you can see us together, I can't. You don't know what it's really like between us. I mean sometimes it's…amazing, but others…I just feel like such a fool talking to him. I say the stupidest things to him, it's impossible to flirt with him without alcohol; I can't even look into his eyes Al! Sometimes I'll just get so nervous and frustrated and he'll just go all shy or won't say anything. It kills me that I don't know what he's thinking about me at those times. He probably just thinks I'm a total freak! I-I don't even think it's worth it," I just hugged her shoulder to my face. I was too embarrassed, too ashamed to look another human being in the eyes.

Then Alice forced my face up and held it in both her palms. She looked straight into my eyes with love and understanding.

"Bella you are in no way stupid or a freak. You are just a shy, beautiful girl who is learning to break out of her shell and blossom. Edward sees you that way too. I should know. I'm his twin. We live each others emotions and we have the same idea of beauty. If I look at you and see the most beautiful girl I've ever met then he will see you that way too. Did you know that the only time Edward is ever shy is when he is crushing on someone big time? He hasn't acted this way since his first girlfriend in freshman year. And look sweetie you don't have to believe me. If you like Jacob and he makes you happy…then I'm not going to stand in your way. I just don't want you to miss out on something you want because you don't think you're good enough for it. You can do anything you want Bella, and I'll be right here to back you up," Alice finished and hugged me tighter.

I was sobbing uncontrollably now. I'd never had a real friend like her in my life, and now that I had her, she was almost too wonderful to be true. She wanted nothing but my happiness and I wanted the same and more for her. I loved her. I loved someone outside of my family and my heart burned in my chest.

I wanted so much to believe her heartfelt words. To believe that I had the power to get over my anxiety with Edward. To believe that he could see me the way I did him. To believe that I was beautiful and special, and worth any love that could be held for me.

No matter what, I promised myself that I would rise above my wall and tear it down forever. I would follow my crazy heart, to wherever it led me; to Edward, to Jacob, to anyone or anywhere. I would listen, follow, and be backed up by the unrelenting love of my best friend.

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**A/N: Ah conditioning...I based their cross-country course after mine at school. Oh also if you check out the link to my deviant art account on my profile I made a quick drawing on paint of Bella's cheerleading uniform. I can't draw. It's just for a sneak peak and it's the only thing on there but if your interested, go ahead. Much more Jacob-Bella-Edward conflict in the future. I like making her life miserable. The next chapter MAY be her party or MAY NOT be. I'm not sure yet. Anyway PLEASE review. Or I'll cry and never write again...lol.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**-Tetra**


	10. Seventeen Ain't So Sweet

**A/N: Thanks for your favs and reviews. If you didn't notice I started naming my chapters after song names. Chapter 1, Chapter 2, ....It got really boring. Anyway, Partyyyy!**

**Disclaimer- Twilight is not mine and neither is the song.

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The remainder of my week was an overwhelming struggle for me. Every day, I would force myself to look into Edward's eyes and speak to him. Every afternoon, I would force myself to stop lusting after Jacob and learn difficult stunts. And every night I would force myself to do my piles of homework calmly, as Alice finished her elaborate preparations for my dreaded birthday party on Saturday night.

I'd finally made it to Saturday evening and I was currently lying on my bed, listening to my ipod, and waiting for Alice's return. Alice had insisted on keeping all the preparations a surprise, so here I was completely alone and anxious, wondering how far overboard my enthusiastic best friend had gone.

Suddenly Alice burst through the door, shopping bags in tow with an exuberant grin stretching across her tiny features.

"Bella! Time to get ready, lovely!" She sang. I took in all her Sephora shopping bags and made an educated guess that 'get ready' meant 'let me dress you up like the life-sized Barbie doll I never had'. Not that I was exactly complaining. I was excited to bring back the seductress Bella that only Alice was capable of turning me into.

"Strip down and face me," She commanded when she had set down her multiple purchases. There was no argument to be made. Alice had no concept of modesty or personal space.

I stripped down to my bra and panties and stood on the towel she had laid out for me as Alice set her ipod in the speakers and cranked up the music. When she returned her attention to me, she started opening up packages of what looked like white, stencil stickers.

"Hold still Bella," Alice ordered as she started sticking them to my stomach, back, ankles, hands, and anywhere else she wanted.

"What are you doing Al?" I sighed.

"Henna Tattoos! I saw an Indian bride on TV with them. She was so gorgeous and cool looking, I just had to do it. Of course, to a lesser extent though 'cause of school and stuff. It's just to make you stand out more," She replied shaking a tattoo pen and then coloring in the first stencil. Oh goody. I'll appear even more obnoxious.

"Uh Alice, there are two things very wrong with your reasoning. One; Indian. Two; Bride. I am supposed to be an Aztec sacrifice,"

"Boohoo, Bells. Like any one will actually know that. You're just too smart. All anyone's gonna think about is the hot, virgin with sexy tattoos. Besides, I think it looks kind of… 'tribal' and 'ancient',"

"Whatever, Alice…"

When Alice finished filling in all the sticker stencils, she started to comb, curl, and hairspray my hair. Leave it to Alice to insist on perfect hair for a pool party.

"You're not allowed to swim until after we sacrifice you. Just dance on the deck or lawn or something. If one drop of water comes in contact with your hair beforehand, I will slit your throat," Alice threatened with a sickeningly sweet smile. She was very frightening.

"Oh and don't sit in the hot tub either…It might melt off your tattoos,"

When Alice was satisfied with my hair she started applying various types of waterproof makeup to my face, concentrating on my eyes with ebony eyeliner and gold glitter. After that, she removed all the tattoo stencils and applied a golden shimmer body lotion all over my body. She stepped back to admire her hard work, then rummaged through one of her shopping bags to reveal two extremely tiny pieces of white beaded fabric.

"Go put this on in the bathroom. You are not allowed to look at yourself in the mirror. Just put it on and come back out. Then you can see yourself in our full length mirror out here," She commanded handing me the skimpy material which I assumed must be my 'outfit'.

I did as she ordered and reluctantly made my way to the bathroom. I held the pieces in front of me and realized it was actually just an extremely fancy, white, string bikini. It was accented with golden beads that hung front the bottom of the top and the top of the bottom and sparkling golden sequins. Something told me she hadn't simply purchased this item at the local PacSun. It was obviously designed for fashion rather than purpose. I just hoped that Alice was thorough enough to check if it was waterproof enough to not be see-through when wet.

It wasn't overly complicated to put on, I just felt completely naked wearing it. There were so many dangerous areas of it where a light pluck of a string would send the whole thing falling to my feet. I was certainly being sacrificed alright, but it wasn't my body, it was my dignity.

I slumped back out to Alice who squealed with joy. I vainly tried to wrap my arms around my body to save myself from indecent exposure. She ripped away my arms and set a small, golden, beaded headdress on my hair and a realistic, but fake golden belly ring in my navel to finish off my look.

"Oh Bella, will you stop being ridiculous! Be proud of your body. It's hot! Now drop your arms and stand up straight in front of the mirror," Alice commanded. She was just as overbearing as Rosalie when it came to dealing with her forte; fashion and partying.

I stood in front of the full length mirror and gasped. This wasn't regular Bella or Vampire Bella. It was sexy, sacrifice Bella and I liked her best. Her body was smoking, her hair was wild, and her eyes were seductive and enticing. She looked similar to vampire Bella but more innocent and less frightening. Like a human Aphrodite reborn into naivety and sexual curiosity. She was perfect.

"Alice, I…" I managed, but couldn't finish.

"No need to thank me. Just promise me to say hello to my brother tonight," She smiled slyly, tossing me a denim skirt and cotton tank top to wear on the drive over.

"I won't let him miss this," I stated still shocked, slowly rekindling the confidence I had that night only a week before.

* * *

Alice insisted that I was not allowed to arrive early, even for my own party. She had specifically assigned Leah, Maggie, and Rosalie to get the party into full swing by the time we arrived. Alice had prepared things for them so it would be a simple task. All decorations were set up, the DJ would take care of the music, and the bartender would take care of the drinks (illegally and happily paid by the Cullen's to keep his mouth shut). All the girls would have to do would be to set out the catered food from the kitchen onto the tables and direct people to the back yard.

It was now nine thirty and we were arriving exactly a half hour late. Alice informed me that Saturday nights had no curfew at school because so many people spent them off campus completely for various reasons such as family visits or weekend trips. Alice and I had planned to just stay at her 'party house' overnight, also welcoming anyone who was in no shape to drive home to stay. We were so responsibly irresponsible.

Alice ended up having to park her car far away from her own house because of the vast amount of other cars already settled there. It was a true blessing they had no neighbors to complain about the cars or the noise.

As I stepped out of the car I heard music blaring from behind the house and saw a bright orange glow surrounding it from all the lights. Alice had even gone to the excessive trouble of decorating the front of the house with white Christmas lights and lanterns all leading around to the back. Several party goers were still arriving and I gulped down my anxiety. If these people were here to see me I would give myself to them. Alice and the others had gone to way too much trouble for me to ruin it all with my low self-esteem.

Alice removed her tank top and threw it over her car seat leaving her only in her black bikini top, ripped denim skirt, and flip-flops. She added on some Aztec party accessories such as gold jewelry and a tropical flower in her hair.

I took off my skirt and tank top and put on the mini sarong Alice had given me. It matched my bikini but barely covered me any more than napkin would.

"Walk with your head up and your shoulders back Bella. Let's show them just how hot the new girl is," Alice said. And I did.

The backyard was enormous and included a large wooden upper deck, a lower patio, and a luxurious pool complete with colorful underwater lights and speakers, a realistic waterfall, and a party-sized hot tub with turbo jets. It wasn't the grandeur of the house that shocked me though. It was Alice's decoration.

She'd had barely a week to prepare but I suppose even time itself couldn't stop Alice Cullen from partying. The deck, trees, umbrellas, and house were all covered with white Christmas lights and colorful hanging lanterns. Steam filled the air from multiple well hidden smoke machines and live, tropical flowers and palm trees covered all flat surfaces. Lit tiki torches surrounded the patio which acted as the dance floor provided with music from the energetic DJ. A banquet of tropical drinks, fruit, kabobs, and other themed foods were spread on a long table next to a small bar which was also adorned with flowers and a grass skirt.

The largest and most extravagant decoration however, was the enormous, fake volcano in the center of the lawn. It had a built in smoke machine so the top looked fiery and intimidating. Smaller volcanoes bubbled on its sides to draw further attention to the large one. There were stone steps up the side of it which I would climb up before plunging down the built-in slide. I would land in a pool of water with red food coloring that was supposed to be lava. It was the volcano I was to be sacrificed into at midnight.

"Oh my God, Alice, this is incredible!" I exclaimed.

"It was nothing, Bella. Just have fun tonight okay?" Alice said.

I nodded as I took in the large crowd of people dancing, drinking, and socializing. Alice was right of course; people at our school knew how to party. Girls were decked out in colorful bikinis or dresses and wore sparkling jewelry and flowers in their hair. Guys wore swim trunks and Hawaiian shirts and had tribal paint on their faces. I noticed that there were also many people who wore the leis provided as party favors. Everyone seemed to be having the time of their lives.

"Oh look there's Rosalie and Emmett!" Alice exclaimed. I turned to see our beautiful cheerleading captain in what seem to be a heated, but one-sided argument with her on-off boyfriend Emmett.

Emmett was the goofy but popular, basketball captain that I'd heard so much about but hadn't the chance to meet yet. Observing him, I noticed that he was bear-like, tall, and muscular but gave off the amusing aura of a twelve year old class clown. His dark brown hair matched his mischievous brown eyes that held a smile even though he was apparently in hot water with his girlfriend.

"Hey guys!" Alice addressed them.

Rosalie turned, and noticing our presence only now, smiled amiably as if nothing was wrong.

"Hi, Alice! Hey, Bella! Happy birthday, honey," Rosalie enthusiastically replied. It was so creepy for her not to be yelling at me or watching me like a hawk.

"Thanks Rose," I smiled.

"Well, Rosie are you gonna introduce your boo to Bella?" Alice pushed slyly.

"Ugh. Why bother. Bella's better off not associating herself with dumb asses like him," Rosalie scowled, crossing her arms.

"Hey! What if she wants to associate herself with dumb asses?!" Emmett smiled, then extended his hand to me, "I'm Emmett, my dear. Dumb ass extraordinaire". I took it and laughed.

"So if you don't mind, what's wrong with you two now?" Alice asked.

"Well you know that lame drinking game where you bounce quarters into drinks?" Rosalie asked and we nodded, "Well this idiot here didn't have a quarter, so he used my favorite ring instead".

"Emmett, you idiot! You don't bounce your girlfriend's stuff into drinks!" Alice scolded him.

"Oh, no. I'm not mad that he used it. I'm mad that he _swallowed_ it," Rosalie seethed whacking him on the head. Alice started cracking up.

"So what are you going to do?" Alice said.

"Well, that's why she's yelling at me. I'm not one for bulimia but she refuses to let it come out the natural way," Emmett stated smugly as if he really had an argument. Rosalie glared at him.

"I want my ring back and perfectly sanitized in the next twenty minutes or we're through, McCarty!" Rosalie commanded then stomped away angrily.

"Wait baby come back!" Emmett ran after her panicked. Um…

"Should we do something?" I asked.

Alice looked at the clock.

"Nah. I'll give them an hour and half. They'll be fine by then. Their arguments are more for the sake of drama and entertainment than anything else. C'mon we're dancing," Alice grabbed my wrist and led me into the mob.

* * *

Two hours. I've been dancing for two whole hours, and instead of feeling exhausted I was completely wired.

Alice was an amazing dancer and together we partied like there was no tomorrow. Jasper had joined us shortly after our arrival and danced with Alice, following her lead.

I however danced with multiple guys. With each new song came an eager new guy fighting to dance with me. I felt like the bachelorette on TV with men fawning after her for no particular reason other than the fact that she was the only female. But I wasn't the only female here. I was just the sacrifice who everyone wanted a piece of. I was in the spotlight and they wanted to share it. For once in my life, I was what everyone else wanted to be and I was invigorated.

"So am I allowed to see you now, or do I need a reservation?" I heard an angelic voice chuckle from behind me.

"Edward! Where have you been? I haven't seen you all night," I questioned as I wrapped him in a friendly hug. He was wearing only swim trunks, exposing his defined abs to me. I was savoring his presence as I felt his bare skin come in contact with mine. When I released him, I caught him quickly looking me up and down. To say I was pleased would be an understatement.

"Well I got here a bit late, and then tried to mingle for a bit since you were so busy," He replied starting to dance with me. Now I regretted dancing with all those other boys. I hadn't realized there was a more appealing offer.

"You should have just come up to me. You have priority," I smirked looking into his eyes without fear. I was too hot tonight for them to burn me.

He spun me so my back was to his chiseled front with his strong hands gripping my hips. My breath caught in my throat as I felt his on my ear.

"I do now?" He played along. I gulped down the anxiety and rested my hands on his.

"Yes, you do," I tilted my head back slightly and started grinding into him. He gasped ever so slightly. I loved this new power that coursed through my veins. I had never been able to dance like this with any boy before, let alone Edward Cullen. Maybe Alice ought to doll me up everyday?

"And why is that?" He cocked his head over my shoulder and smirked at me.

I lifted my right hand up and put it right under his jaw. My eyes burned into his for a few seconds.

"Take a guess," I said seductively. He looked almost shocked. The irony of it was that I wasn't.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," Alice appeared out of thin air. That God damned evil pixie! She was the one pushing Edward and me together but whenever I was on a roll with him she'd shoot me down before I could start.

"Actually you are. So if you don't mind…"

"Oh, but I do. It is time for your sacrifice!" Did she have an internal clock or something? I wondered if she'd found a way to store her phone in her bikini top.

"Can't we do it at one?" I whined but she simply dragged me away without answering.

I followed her to the front yard.

"And here are your carriers," She gestured to four boys standing next to an object I'd be riding on. It appeared to be a strange cross between a throne and a stretcher. I recognized one of the boys as Embry Call, a friend of Jacob's. I'd completely forgotten of Jacob's existence until just now.

"Hey Embry. Have you seen Jacob?" I asked him. I saw Alice from the corner of my eye looking annoyed and irritated.

"Sorry Bella. He really wanted to come but he's visiting his Dad this weekend. He told me to tell you happy birthday though," Embry apologized.

I was such a hypocrite. Here I was partying and lusting over Edward, not thinking of him once but feeling rejected and angry at him for missing my party.

"Okay, I'm going in now. Wait about a minute, and then carry her in. Got it?" Alice asked.

We nodded and she ran off. I climbed onto my chair, and waited for Alice's cue. When we heard her voice boom from the microphone we started in.

As I was carried I observed all the people cheering below me. Never before, had I been in such limelight. How could this happen to me? I was the star, the queen, the ultimate. It was so surreal I couldn't even fully grasp the situation. I felt like my body was floating limp and my mind was observing from an outside perspective in slow motion.

I was carried up the steps, right to the edge of the volcano.

"And now, it's time to sacrifice this virgin to the party gods! Are you ready?!" Alice yelled dramatically into the microphone.

"Sacrifice! Sacrifice!" The crowded chanted over and over, lifting their drinks and pumping their fists into the air.

"Ten seconds to midnight. Let's count down. Ten," Alice started. The crowd joined in.

"Nine…Eight…Seven…Six…Five…Four…Three…Two…"

I leapt in and everyone screamed at the top of their lungs. I sped down the tall slide and plunged into the dyed water with a huge splash. I smiled as I stood and laughed aloud at how ridiculous the party was. I pumped my fist in the air with a loud "woot", and the crowd cheered again. I slicked my wet hair back and attempted to climb out of the pool.

What I wasn't expecting was a hand there to help me. I giggled as I took Edward's hand gratefully.

"That looked like fun. I should probably try it out before they take it back tomorrow," Edward teased.

I glanced at all the people running to the volcano with the same idea and laughed. Maybe I'd give it another go before the night ended. It was pretty awesome.

"Hey I have something to show you," Edward took my hand. My cheeks heated slightly.

"Okay," I followed him.

He led me over to the hot tub.

"Sit down for a sec. I'll be right back," Edward said before hurrying off.

I sat on the edge, dangling my feet into the hot water while gliding my fingers through the cold pool adjacent to it. I waited anxiously, wondering what Edward could possibly have to show me. Having him simply pay attention to me was already far too incredible.

Edward returned with his hands behind his back and an excited but contained grin on his face. I'd never seen anything more adorable in my life.

"What do you have there Edward?" My heart was practically aching. How could someone be so sexy and cute at the same time? I supposed if someone could be, it would definitely be Edward. He could have a rabid dog behind his back and I wouldn't be any less captivated by him.

"Well, it's your birthday so I thought I'd get you a little something," He smiled sheepishly. Please, marry me. Like right now.

"You got me something?! Edward you didn't have to do that. The invites specifically stated 'no gifts'," I replied.

"Well, if you don't want it…" He teased. I tried to glare at him and failed miserably. He just chuckled.

"I got this before I even read the invitation," He said shyly. He brought his hands around front to reveal an adorable stuffed sea turtle with a pink ribbon attaching a card to its back. He handed it to me and I took it.

"Aw! It's so cute!" I squealed hugging it to my chest. Turtles were my favorite animal and I hadn't even informed him of this. He was just perfect.

"Open the card," He told me. I detached the card from the ribbon and opened it up. Much to my surprise, two tickets fell out of it. I inspected them closely.

"The aquarium?" My voice was but a whisper. I almost cried right then and there.

"It's something I find fascinating, but wouldn't have the guts to ask a friend to go with me," He smirked. They were my exact words to him a week ago. He was so perfect I couldn't mutter a sound. I was so close to crying I couldn't even smile.

"Of course, the tickets are yours. You don't have to go with me. You can take someone else if you'd like," He said worriedly, obviously taking my expression the wrong way. As if there was any other human being I'd rather share my time with.

"No, no! Edward, there is no one I'd rather go with than you," I said truthfully.

"Really?" He looked up at me through his lashes.

"Really," I stated definitely, looking into his beautiful eyes. He smiled satisfied.

"You know…if you squeeze his foot…well just try it," He said slightly embarrassed.

I squeezed it and it played the tune to 'Happy Birthday'. I giggled. It was the nerdiest thing ever, but entirely endearing.

"That's me playing piano…" He blushed. It took me awhile to stop my incessant giggling.

"Well, thank you Edward. You have just made this the best birthday ever," I told him truthfully.

"No problem," He smirked.

"You know what would make it better though?" I asked.

"What?" He asked confused.

"This." I stated and yanked him backwards into the freezing pool. He screamed. I laughed hysterically.

Yes. This was definitely the best birthday ever.

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**A/N: So okay, I have this bad feeling that people are losing interest in this story. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but I have anxiety disorder so it's not my fault. Anyway, I want to keep my readers happy(and existent) so seriously, if you don't like something or have a suggestion or complaint don't be afraid to write it in a review! It's not mean, that's what they're there for. Trust me, I don't bite...unless your Edward. lol. **

**Thanks for reading!**

**-Tetra**

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	11. First Time

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A/N: So it didn't exactly come out on the weekend but it's president's day weekend so it sort of did. I was so relieved and happy when I recieved all your reviews. You guys are so awesome. Anyway, I decided not to write about the aquarium because that's just filler. This one keeps the storyline progressing...well sort of. Anyway you all can thank yourselves and Lifehouse for this chapter's arrival. I was so determined to write for you guys but I didn't know what to write. Then I found the song 'First Time' on itunes which totally resparked my creativity. This chapter is not about losing your virginity, so don't expect it! It's about...well I'll tell you at the bottom, if you don't find out.

**Disclaimer- Twilight and 'First Time' do not belong to me.**

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Time. It is conceivable but mind-boggling, wonderful but terrible, frightening but unalarming. A true sense of time is seemingly possible but in actuality perfectly unattainable. Looking towards a year, one may perceive it as forever but reach its conclusion in the blink of an eye. Looking towards an hour, one may believe it as all too brief but find a lifetime in each fleeting minute.

I of course, was not immune to time's enigmatic ways. In my first few weeks at Volterra Prep, each moment seemed unique, precious, and important. But as my hours morphed to days and my days became weeks, I felt like I was drifting through timeless bliss that only love and belonging could bring forth.

It was currently late October; roughly my seventh week here and I'd never lived such a vast turn around in my seventeen years of life. When I'd entered school just last month, my lonely heart held fear, confusion, and the shameful pain of self-pity. Now just weeks later, I felt strong, accomplished, and enviably elated.

The first change in my life was the overwhelming sense of accomplishment. I had found the place I felt I belonged. The place I could strive for goals and actually attain them. I was doing well academically and I'd found a sport that kept me reaching for new heights. Studying was almost pleasant in the presence of a genius like Edward so my grades were phenomenal. Cheerleading was invigorating with an instructor like Jacob and I was learning at an amazing pace, progressing so far that I was on a similar level as team members who had been cheering for years.

The second change was my blossoming social life. I was no longer the shy girl perpetually hiding behind her brown locks in the corner. I had friends, real friends, and more than one at that. Besides Alice, Jasper, and Edward I often spent my time with Maggie, Leah, Jacob, Emmett, and most surprisingly Rosalie. I had gotten over my initial intimidation of her and she and Emmett had quickly become some of my closest friends, often joining in plans with us.

The final and most significant change in my life was my relationship with Edward. I'd never been so completely and utterly attached to a person in all my life. After that first trip to the aquarium the glass wall between us had shattered completely. Now, I absolutely could not get enough of him. Every day, we would study together or hang out. Every weekend, we had to spend at least one day together, completely alone, to do something special, silly, and many times slightly educational. Alice referred to these times as our 'Nerd Dates'. The definition of a 'Nerd Date' would be any time Edward and I would go off and do something she considered a complete worthless waste of time.

Though everyone believed Edward and I were dating, in all actuality we weren't. Such conclusions were understandable however because we were always together hugging, cuddling, and flirting. The only things we didn't do were kiss or speak to each other romantically. He was my best friend, my confidant, my soul mate, and I constantly wished him to be something more.

I was captivated by him in every sense of the word. I'd find my cheeks flushing pink, my skin glowing bright, and my insides warm solely from the happiness he'd brought me. He had unintentionally stolen my heart and I knew that I as hard as I tried, I'd never be able to take it away from him.

Every hour I spent with him was too brief and precious. Every minute I spent away from him was too long and wasted. I'd find ways to touch him, but could never be close enough. I'd find things to say to him, but could never speak to him enough.

No matter what, he was always on my mind. Whether it was silent praise of him or a daydream, he was always there with me even if he wasn't. When my fingers brushed my skin I'd wish they were his. When I'd hug a pillow to my chest at night I'd wish it was him. When I'd see the sunshine or hear music I'd wish for his radiant smile and melodic laughter.

Overall, my addiction to him was just that; an addiction. Something overwhelming, enthralling, and dangerous.

* * *

It was Thursday morning and I had just pranced into AP Biology to see Edward already seated and staring diligently at his computer screen.

"Hey, you," I said sweetly, wrapping my arms around Edward's neck from behind. I inhaled his mouthwatering scent; the best smell in the world.

"Hi," He said a bit timidly, turning around to give me my favorite crooked smile. We'd had a slight role reversal in these past few weeks. I was often the more confident one, when it was just the two of us. Around other people it was another story however.

"Whatcha' doin'?" I teased, peaking at his screen from over his shoulder.

"Studyin'," He grinned wider, mimicking the baby voice I was teasing him with.

"Why? You're too smart already. If you keep studying the school board will catch on and just graduate you already. Is that something you'd really want on your conscience? Leaving me here to rot in high school all alone?" I reasoned, immaturely.

"Hmm, I guess not," He stated definitely, closing the lid of his laptop. He turned his full attention to me and rested both elbows on the table to cup his face.

"You're more interesting anyway. I'll study you," He teased sweetly. Yes, Please.

"And how would you go about such an analysis, Dr. Cullen?" I questioned him, feigning the seriousness of a nurse on a daytime soap opera.

"Well, first I'd suggest you remove all your clothing and lie down on this lab table for me," He teased in perfectly feigned seriousness letting his eyes burn into mine. The eyes I was now addicted to, rather than frightened by. How I wished I could take his words seriously.

"Nice to see you too, hon," I giggled.

"What no stripping?" Edward chuckled.

"Nope," I replied popping the 'P' like a child.

"Are you excited for tomorrow?" He asked, to jumpstart conversation.

"Of course I am!" I replied, grinning. Tomorrow was a Friday and we were off school for a teacher's holiday. Edward, Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, Emmett, and I were all driving down to the lake for the day and watching the meteor shower at night.

"Good, me too. Do you want to do something later?"

"I can't. I have practice later. You know that."

"I mean after practice."

"Well actually, Jacob and I were planning on a little extra stunting practice. Rosalie and Alice agreed to stay after to help us." I kind of wished I hadn't now that Edward had asked me, but I was determined to get my cupie down. What better way to do that than to be instructed by three experts?

"Jacob Black?" Edward asked with slight resentment.

"Yes, Jacob Black; my stunting partner, whom you are fully aware of. What other Jacobs do we know?" I teased. I didn't know why but he never seemed to care much for Jacob. He was friendly, interesting, and funny and everyone else seemed to take to him just fine.

"I don't know. Just checking," He defended.

"You don't like him," I stated without question.

"No, he's fine. Very…clean." Edward could lie to nearly everyone but Alice and me. It was hilarious when he tried.

"Why don't you like him? I like him." This seemed to strike a wrong note in him. I saw him working to keep his nonchalant expression.

"I think he likes you, Bella. I mean, he looks at you like…like you're something to eat." Really? Did he? I mean sure, it was easy to flirt with him, but I hadn't really done anything since I'd gotten over my initial attraction to him. I wasn't sure if I should be flattered or worried. I didn't exactly like him in that way anymore. It was just so much easier and enjoyable to be friends with him.

"Is that a problem?" I asked him. It was in a way for me, but it wasn't exactly a legitimate reason for Edward to dislike him.

"Well, not if you like him back…" His voice dripped with nonchalance.

"I don't like him, Edward," I sighed. Boys are so confusing.

"Good, 'cause I don't like him," He stated definitely. Grr! I mentally slapped myself in the face. Here I was struggling to get him to answer my question, while I answer his without even technically being asked.

As if on cue Mr. Banner walked in to end our conversation. _Fine, Edward, you win_. I saw him grinning slightly. _Just like you always do…_

* * *

"Wait for the flick at the top ,Bella, then pull your ankles and feet together," Rosalie instructed. It was Thursday evening, after cheerleading practice and Rosalie and Alice were helping Jacob and me with our toss cupie. We had already mastered the basic cupie. In a basic cupie, my feet would start in both his hands at prep level and then push up to extension where I would squeeze my ankles together in one of his hands. The end result would be me standing on both feet in one of his hands fully extended. The toss cupie would end in the same way and only differed by the mount. Instead of starting at 'hands' level, I would go from ground, to toss, to flick, to cupie.

I gripped Jacob's wrists as his hands gripped my waist. "One, two," He counted then bounced me. I reached the top, but slipped as my left foot missed his hand. Ugh. I fell and Jacob caught me easily. He smiled down at me in his arms and chuckled.

"Bella, you and this left foot thing…I'm getting the feeling we should just skip it and move to a one armed lib," He chuckled.

"Shut it. This is obviously all your fault," I lied smacking his arm playfully. It was completely my fault. He could do this with any of the veteran girls easily.

"Bella, when you pinch your penny squeeze your calves and your feet together too. Don't just put them together. You have to hold them tight," Alice instructed, smiling devilishly. I glared at her. She knew how much I despised the term 'pinch your penny'. It was an annoying cheerleader way of saying 'squeeze your butt cheeks together so tightly you could hold a penny between them'. No matter how well the illusion helped towards keeping stability, it still sounded crude to me.

Jacob and I tried again. We progressed slightly, and held the stunt for about a half a second before I fell again. After a few more tries of progressing and digressing, Rosalie glanced at the clock to check the time.

"I think we should call it a night guys. Bella, do you think you'll be able to get it by the first game? I want to know if I should put it in the halftime routine or not," Rosalie asked.

"I think we'll be good. Go ahead."

"Okay, great! See you tomorrow, guys!" She said as she dashed off. She had almost as much energy as Alice, and it was quite a task to keep up with her.

"Shall we?" Jacob said to Alice and me, while gesturing towards the door. We followed him, and when Alice was positive he wouldn't see her, she rolled her eyes delicately. Alice also had a slight aversion towards Jacob, but I knew that it was simply because she thought he distracted me from Edward. I'd frequently inform her that assumptions were false, however. It was silly to believe that anything could keep my mind off Edward.

"So what are you guys doing tomorrow? Seems like you've got some big plans with queenie," Jacob asked.

"Oh some of us are going down to the lake for the day. It should be fun." I felt slightly rude for not inviting him along, but he wouldn't have fun with us anyway. Plus, I was positive Edward wouldn't enjoy his company.

"Oh, okay. Cool," He replied. I suddenly felt an awkwardness around him I'd never felt before. Was it me? Was it him? Could it be about the suspicion Edward had informed me of earlier?

We reached the dormitories without any further conversation. I knew it was time to say goodbye.

"Well, see you around, Bella, Alice." He waved and prodded off to his dorm. What was different about this?

"Alice, did Jacob seem… different to you?" I asked her when he was out of hearing distance.

"You mean besides him not jabbering on like moron or hitting on you? No, not really," She replied sarcastically, while inspecting her fingernails.

"Hey that's it! Why do you think that is?"

"Bella, Jacob obviously likes you. He was probably just trying to ask you out or something, for the day off tomorrow. Maybe he felt a little shot down when you told him about the lake." She reasoned. I suddenly felt completely guilty, though technically I had done nothing wrong.

"You think so?"

"I don't know, honey. I'm just taking my best guess, but I'm not God. Although I'm fairly certain it was somewhere along those lines."

"I didn't mean to hurt his feelings, Al." I felt terrible now. If that was what Alice assumed then it was probably true. Alice was right about most things.

"You didn't do anything wrong, sweetie. I'm sure he'll be over it the next time you see him. Remember, you can't always make everyone happy." She gave me a loving smile and rubbed my shoulder. She was right of course. She always was.

We made our way back up to our room and I couldn't help but wonder how Jacob would interact with me from now on. I was really hoping he would go back to the talkative, flirtatious, annoying Jacob I was used to.

* * *

Whoever invented beach volleyball could go to hell, in my book. Not only were my wrists red and swollen but my arms and legs were burning from the sand that chaffed them every time I fell down.

It was Friday afternoon, and my friends and I had already arrived at the lake for 'fun and relaxation'. I wasn't quite sure how the others found volleyball relaxing, but that was what we were doing.

At the conclusion of the game I grinned more from the fact that it was over with, than our win. It wasn't like I'd helped achieve it. Alice and Edward were just very talented at the dreaded sport (we played three on three rather than making people sit out).

By sunset, we had already devoured campfire grilled hotdogs for dinner and were now sitting around the campfire roasting marshmallows for s'mores. Emmett was attempting to tell a ghost story but failed miserably at scaring us. The key to a good ghost story was a talented narrator to spin it and Emmett was anything but that. He couldn't stop cracking up and often forgot parts of the tale and had to backtrack to them. The worst part was that every time his marshmallow set on fire, he would look at it, state the word 'bad', and then fling it over his shoulder to splat on the tree behind him. It didn't even matter to him if he was in the middle of a sentence. He would stop everything to chuck his burnt marshmallows at the now gooey tree.

"And then she slowly opened the door-no wait was it the window?-Well she opened window-Bad." Emmett chucked his umpteenth burnt marshmallow into the tree trunk. "She opened the-Bad." Fling. "There was this bloody hook in the window-oooo scary, scary." He waved his arms above his head dramatically. His flaming marshmallow flew off its stick, straight into the air and landed on his left shoulder still ablaze.

"Ah!" He screamed trying to flick it off, but it was so gooey that it stuck to his sleeve.

"Stop, Drop, and Roll!" Alice screamed. He followed her instructions, but the flame was on his shoulder, not his front or back, so it took awhile. We all exploded into uncontrollable bouts of laughter. Emmett took his seat back on the hollow log, his sleeve burned through and sticky. He rested his folded hands on his lap, and plastered the most serious expression on his face.

"And they were never seen again," He said mysteriously. Who was never seen again? The story was so poorly told and confusing, I had genuinely no clue what it was about. Something about a skater, a car chase, and a bloody hook.

"That was a nice story, baby." Rosalie patted his good shoulder struggling not to laugh.

"Really?! Did it scare you?" Emmett asked.

"Um, sure," She lied.

"Don't worry, baby, it's just a story. I'm here to protect you," He said proudly, as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Good thing we have Emmett to protect us from bloody hooks in high speed car chases…

* * *

When it was finally time for the meteor shower, our group coupled off. I, of course, was left alone with Edward and I couldn't be happier. He laid out a thick blanket for us to lie on and extra one on top of it in case we got cold. By we, I mean me, because he was never cold.

We both lay down on the blanket facing each other. His eyes were deep, and captivating in the dark and the moonlight played across his ivory face like a spotlight on a masterpiece. I had to breathe and blink once to regain my composure.

"When is it starting again?" I rolled on my back to face the night sky.

"Eleven. Should be any minute now," He replied, as he scooted over and wrapped his arms around me. I held him back and cuddled in.

"You cold?" He asked.

"No." I shivered. Yes. Seriously, neither he, nor Alice ever gave off any kind of body heat, but were also never cold. I supposed it was just a genetic thing. Edward grabbed the extra blanket and threw it over us. Then we resumed our cuddling.

"You know, it's really quite odd that people refer to meteors as shooting stars. If another star was actually placed into our solar system and was heading toward the earth, life as we knew it would cease to exist long before it got here. Of course not that, that would ever happen anyway, as we would be sucked into its greater gravitational pull rather than the other way around. Really it would be quite interesting to observe its conflict with our sun depending on their varying sizes…of course we'd all die but-"I cut him off.

"That's nice, sweetie. Would you like to inform me of the sodium content of the sand we're lying on as well?" I teased him. Another strange habit with Edward was that he tended to prattle on about things when he was nervous or uncomfortable. Kind of similar to the way I did, except that the things he'd say were intelligent and things I'd say were idiotic. Still, I didn't want him to be nervous around me, and those seemed to be the only times he was nervous. Or nerdy come think of it. Many people seemed to believe he was this cool, hot basketball player. How wrong they really were.

"So are you supposed to wish on every shooting 'star' or just the first one?" He asked.

"I think just the first one. Go ahead and wish on all of them if it makes you happy though. You never know when you'll next see a shooting star," I reasoned. I cuddled my head into his neck.

"What are you thinking about?" Edward asked me.

"What I'm gonna wish for. I don't really know. I take wishes very seriously. The last wish I made was in the fountain in the lobby and it came true. I'm thinking there's more to this wishing thing than people think," I replied.

"And what wish was that?"

"Acceptance basically. A place I could feel I belonged."

"And you found that here?" He hugged me tighter. I giggled. He really had no idea.

"Yes. I found a school that I liked…A sport that I loved…And some of the greatest people I've ever known." I squeezed him and looked into his beautiful eyes.

"So I guess this wishing business is quite serious," He chuckled.

"Quite," I stated.

"What are you going to wish for then?" He asked.

"I don't know. I feel like I have everything I want…What are you wishing for?"

"Bella, wishing rule #1; don't tell anyone else your wish. Duh," He teased in a mock girly voice.

"Fine, asshole." I managed to punch his arm in the twisted cuddling position we were in. He ended up rolling on top of me and torturing me with tickling. I was laughing hysterically, vainly trying to push him off to reciprocate the torture. He was too strong though, so I ended up having to beg for mercy.

"E-Edward! Please! St-stop! Ah! Stars, I w-wish Edward would st-stop!" I screamed. He ceased fire immediately.

"Bella, don't waste your star wish on me. You'd better hope the stars weren't taking you seriously." He pointed to the sky and I saw a single light streak across the blackness, then another, and another.

We settled back down on the blanket to watch the circus in the sky. I thought back to Edward's words. _Bella, don't waste your star wish on me_. And I knew exactly what I would wish for; Edward. He was the only thing I wanted or needed. No matter what happened in my life, I knew that he would always be there for me and I would always love him for that. Wait! Love?! Did I love Edward? Was that possible? I'd only known him for less than two months. Can you love someone in two months? I didn't think so, unless you were Cinderella or someone like that.

I took one fleeting glance at Edward. My gorgeous, sweet, wonderful best friend. Could I love him? I knew of one test. I closed my eyes and imagined a world where Edward no longer existed. I tried my hardest to convince myself that he'd died in a car crash. Pain shot through my chest. My heart leapt into my throat. Tears threatened my eyelids. And that was just from imagining it. If the test had any justifiable basis, then I was indeed in love with my best friend. Fuck, Damn, Shit, Crap, and any other curse word available in Webster's or Urban Dictionary.

"You okay, Bella?" Edward questioned me, concern dominating his beautiful features.

"Yeah, just…allergies," I lied wiping a tear away. Great.

I turned my face back to the shooting stars/meteors. _I wish I may, I wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight. _And on every single star I saw that night, I wished with all my heart that Edward may love me back someday.

* * *

**A/N: So it's about falling in love for the first time. It's a great song. I totally recommend it for anyone who hasn't heard it. Oh and the marshmallow thing happen to a real guy I know. lol. Anyway, words of wisdom...Real authors get paid for their work. Fanfiction authors get reviews for their work. So basically, if you don't review...You're Stealing! Shame on you...**

**Thanks for reading!**

**-Tetra**

* * *


	12. Sooner or Later

**Chapter 12: Sooner or Later**

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry it took me so long to update. I got sick and I was so ridiculously busy last week. Also there was that big glitch with fanfiction that said "Login/submission area is currently inaccessible due to a technical glitch". I was so upset I couldn't update. This chapter would have come out Sunday if not for that.** **Anyway, I feel like I'm always trying to educate you guys or something so technically you don't have to read the first section, but I would like you to.**

**Disclaimer- Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight and Michael Tolcher owns 'Sooner or Later'. All I own is this crappy fanfic.**

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Sayings develop in the hopes of readying future generations for life's harshest lessons. One lesson never learned however, is that some things in life cannot be taught. Sayings can be repeated again and again, but will be devoid of true meaning until it is too late. Till the experience has already taken place and the person figures things out for themselves the hard way.

Take for example the three sayings:

"Good things come when you least expect them."

"Less is more."

"The best things in life are free."

Why is it then, that the supposed best moments of one's life are mapped out, flamboyantly emphasized, and excessively expensive? Weddings, proms, celebrations, holidays…All are stretched out of proportion and molded into alleged perfection, yet the genuine happiness is hidden behind the glittery trimming.

The peak group learning such lessons is the adolescence; the youth, the teenagers, the high school students. This is why the perfect dress, the perfect hair, and the perfect date for a teen's junior ring dance are of even higher priority than breathing.

* * *

Preparing for two important events at once is only feasible if you have absolute control over the situation. I, however, had absolutely no clue what I was doing and was relying solely on the organization and planning skills of my best friend to pull me through.

It was the night of October 31st ; the night where jack-o-lanterns and candy lined the streets for children, the night where horror movies and flashlights were brought out for adults, and the night where seductive costumes and alcohol were purchased for anyone in between. In layman's terms it was Halloween. The second most expensive and immensely blown out of portion holiday next to Christmas in the U.S.

Quite obviously, Halloween was made into the greatest ordeal at Volterra Prep as it was the most important holiday we would be present in school for. Costumes were pricey and often planned out since the summer holidays. Parties flowed out from single dorms into entire building floors. Decorations were carefully selected and put up in just the right places.

As if the festive celebration of Halloween wasn't enough to handle, the junior class also had another important event just over the horizon. This event was none other than the all important Junior Ring Dance. At a proud, exclusive, prep school such as ours, school rings are cherished and meant to symbolize the pride and maturity of upperclassmen that lowerclassmen strive to attain. It is the highlight of junior year that is considered greater than junior prom and all other dances combined.

I had completely banished all thoughts of Ring Day from my mind until just this morning, when its proximity had finally come to my attention. Glancing at the calendar, I realized that it was only one short week away. At this realization, I had nearly come to a guilt-ridden nervous breakdown. I didn't have a hair appointment, shoes, or even a dress. If it wasn't for Alice and her miracle working ways, I would have surely come crashing down. When I told her of my predicament, she slapped me once then immediately got down to business. Thanks to her, I now had hair, nail, and makeup appointments, dinner plans, and e-vites sent out to my parents for the ceremony.

Currently, Alice and I were in our dorm room. I was putting on my costume for tonight, while Alice was ready in her costume and seated at the computer. She was giving me some bizarre personality quiz to aid us in selecting the perfect dress for me and it was taking an exasperatingly long time.

"Would you rather A) live a short, happy life B) live an average, semi-happy life or C) live a long, unhappy life?" Alice quizzed me

"Alice, I don't know…What do you mean by short?" I replied. Seriously, what did this have to do picking a dress?

"Just answer it, Bella. I don't know. Personally, I would choose A," Alice suggested.

"Okay, fine. I pick A," I stated flatly. I truly couldn't care less.

"Really? Because you seem more like the 'long, unhappy life' to me," She reasoned.

"Alice!" I growled.

"All right, all right! Sheesh! A it is…" She clicked the button to retrieve the results.

"Oh! Bella, I think you'll like your results! Come here," Alice commanded. I sulked over to her and observed the gown on the screen. It was a silky, halter-style, floor length gown in royal blue that flowed out at the bottom and tied in a long-ended, chiffon bow across the bare back. It was gorgeous, beautiful, and perfect for me, but I was uninterested.

"They even suggested these sparkly, silver heels to go with it!" Alice exclaimed, completely excited. She began clicking the buttons to order them for rush delivery before I even had a say in anything.

"Cute," I stated glumly. Alice turned towards me, her forehead creased in concern.

"Do you not like them, Bells? We can pick another dress if you want." She inspected me critically, trying to discern what was wrong. It was useless to attempt to mask my melancholy from her. I decided to give it a shot, however, even though I knew she would figure it out anyway.

"I…I'm just not excited, Al. I mean getting your ring really isn't that important if you'd just entered the school." It wasn't a total lie. It just wasn't the real reason why I was dreading the dance.

"True…" She narrowed her eyes at me, as if trying to decipher from my body language whether I was fibbing or not. "What else?" Damn. She got me. I couldn't actually lie to her without her full awareness of it. I was only capable of a good half lie.

"Uh…" Shit.

"For the love of God, Bella! I know you're hiding something so just tell me!" Alice scolded.

"I don't have a date, okay?!" I yelled. My eyes moistened before a single tear rolled down my cheek. Thank God, for waterproof makeup.

"What?! Why not?" She squealed shocked. It was such a typical Alice response.

"You're not helping, Al," I muttered wiping the tear away. The truth of the situation was that a good handful of boys had already asked me, and I'd turned them all down. I'd carelessly convinced myself into the wishful thinking that Edward would invite me instead, even if only as friends. Any thoughts or preparations of the dance, I'd simply put on hold while waiting for his invitation. I didn't want to believe that he would be taking someone else, for fear of the pain such a thought would cause me. Now, I would have to face the truth that he had already asked another girl. I would have to be strong and sensible or else I'd end up going dateless.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. I'm just surprised, is all. No one asked you?" Alice asked.

"Well a few boys did, but I turned them down. I was…I was kind of hoping Edward would ask me…" My eyes dropped to the floor. How could I have been such a fool?

"That bastard! I'll castrate him! What the hell does he think he's doing?! Making you wait like that…This would have been the perfect opportunity to…Oh, never mind!" Alice ceased her furious ranting and stepped up to hug me. "Don't worry, honey. We'll fix this. There are still a bunch of guys without dates and a ton of seniors who would love to take you. You'll have a date by the end of the night. I promise," She said looking my sexy Halloween costume up and down.

For Halloween, Alice and I dressed as fire and ice.

Alice's costume included a red tube top, red heels, and a mini skirt with many angular pieces of orange and red chiffon at the bottom to make it look like fire. She also painted her nails red and face painted flames near her eyes.

My costume was a sparkly, blue mini dress with a very low, plunging neckline and sparkly, clear heels. I also had blue streaks in my tousled hair, blue polish on my nails, and crystal jewelry.

"Time to make 'em drool," Alice smiled. Hopefully, she was right.

* * *

Basically, the entire building was one giant party. As soon as we left our room, Alice and I had already stumbled upon a great deal of students in the hallway moving around from one room to the next.

The hallway was not our destination, however. Alice and I were heading upstairs to the seventh floor, where Jasper's band member Riley would be throwing a party. It was allegedly the best party and most of our friends where planning to meet us there.

As we reached the floor, we'd found it quite easy to locate the room. The door was left wide open, with people even spilling out into the hallway for a chance to breathe. Alice and I pushed through the door and I realized with slight envy how much bigger his dorm was than ours. All dorms on the seventh floor were like small apartments, exclusively for seniors. Riley apparently shared it with three other boys, but the space was still generous compared to regular rooms.

The room was decorated considerably well given the fact that it was set up by boys. There was also an ample amount of food and drinks set out. Some of it actually appeared semi-appetizing and I'd have considered trying some out it out if I wasn't concerned about its safety.

"Hey, gorgeous," Greeted a familiar voice from behind us. Alice and I turned to face him.

"Hey Jaz-oh, Jasper," Alice purred wrapping her arms around his neck and giving him a quick peck on the lips.

"The name's Bond. James Bond," Jasper smirked in a horrible imitation of James Bond. His costume was excellent though, and it swept Alice right off her feet into incessant giggling.

"You clean up pretty well, Jazz," I complimented.

"Thanks, Bells. Both of your costumes are great too. Very creative. I think I've already seen about ten bunnies and twenty other animals." We all laughed.

"Thanks, Jazz. Hey, have you seen Emmett or Rosalie?" I asked. He started laughing.

"Um…Yeah, I think everyone's seen them," He chuckled.

"Oh, no. What now?" Alice asked annoyed.

"I think you should see for yourself. They're right over there." He pointed and we both looked. Oh boy…

Emmett was just standing there, smirking like an idiot, while Rosalie was scolding him harshly in another one of their one-sided arguments. It wasn't difficult to guess why she was reprimanding him. I sighed. Time to go intervene, I suppose.

"Hey, guys. What seems to be the problem?" Alice asked, though the problem was blatantly obvious.

"What's the problem?! Look at him!" Rosalie screeched. It was kind of hard not to look at him. Standing next to the beautiful, authentic-looking Greek goddess was a giant yellow banana.

"Babe, it's Halloween! Lighten up a bit," Emmett soothed her in vain. She sighed dramatically.

"You both understand why I'm upset right?" She asked Alice and me. We nodded in unison.

"I don't see what the big deal is. It's Halloween, so I'm wearing a costume. It's not inappropriate or anything," Emmett defended. It was the last straw for Rosalie.

"Because, you idiot, how the hell is a Greek goddess supposed to grind with a giant, cock shaped fruit?!" Rosalie yelled.

"So you wanna grind…?" Emmett wiggled his eyebrows. He didn't understand that it was best not to provoke his possible executioner.

"Yeah, with someone who looks decent tonight and will actually be able to feel it! We're through McCarty!" She stormed off.

"Wait baby come back!" Emmett pleaded, running after her and then tripping due to the aerodynamics of giant bananas.

"Déjà vu, much?" I said to no one in particular. I glanced back to Alice and Jasper who were quite obviously having a difficult time behaving around each other.

"Why don't you two go dance or something? Don't worry about me. I'll catch you guys later," I encouraged them with a smile.

"Are you sure, Bella? We don't want to just leave you," Alice replied kindly, but I knew that she really did.

"I'm fine. You guys go have fun."

"Okay thanks, Bella! See ya!" Alice squealed with enthusiasm, before grabbing Jasper's wrist and hauling him off.

Now that I was alone, I felt a bit self-conscious so I decided to go scope out the buffet. I probably wouldn't eat any of it, but pretending to would be a good alternative to standing in the middle of the room alone. I opened a sealed can of diet coke and took a sip. A large, warm hand gripped my shoulder.

"Hey, Bella." I turned around to Jacob grinning down at me handsomely.

"Jake, what the hell?" I giggled at his 'costume'. He wore a hot pink Lacoste polo over a lime green one with both collars popped, ripped Hollister jeans, Abercrombie & Fitch sandals, lime green shutter shades, and his hair gelled into spikes.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm a fop! Or a douchebag…your choice," He smirked.

"Jacob Black, what am I going to do with you?" I giggled.

"Well, what are you supposed to be, little missy? Blue?" He asked, pretending to look me up and down skeptically.

"No! I'm ice, loser. It just doesn't make sense right now because my fire is off playing with James Bond." I crossed my arms across my chest.

"I'll be your fire, baby," Jacob teased snaking his arm around my waist. I giggled. I was so glad that I had my talkative, flirty, irritating Jacob back.

"Not in that outfit, you won't!"

"Ah, c'mon! Women are supposed to love douchebags!"

"Not this woman." We both chuckled.

"Alright, fair enough. Would you at least do me the honor of dancing with me, ice princess?" He offered me his hand. I gulped down my slight anxiety and took it.

"Sure."

* * *

Jacob was probably the best dancer I'd ever danced with. His style was interesting, unique, and perfectly synchronized with the beat. It made sense though. He was a cheerleader, after all.

When he was close to me, I couldn't help my erratic breathing or the flustering of my skin from his touch. He had a way of making dancing erotic and sexy. He wasn't exactly feeling me up, but his touches were unexpected and sensual. I'd never experienced anything like it before and as much as I was embarrassed to admit it, I was enjoying myself quite a lot.

"Hey, Bella?" He spun me around so I was facing him.

"Yeah?" It came out as sort of a sigh. My brain was in too much of a tizzy for conversation.

He bit his lip, and seemed to be in deep thought or indecision. At last he spoke.

"Bella are you- I mean um…Would you like to go to Ring Dance…with me?" Jacob stuttered out nervously. Holy shit. This was it; an invitation from someone other than the boy I loved. My heart begged, pleaded me not to accept, but my brain proposed a much more persuasive argument. I wasn't going to be invited by Edward, and I'd already promised myself and Alice that I would have a date by the end of the night. Also, an offer from Jacob was probably the best one I'd ever get, so how could I turn it down?

"It's…it's alright Bella. You don't have to go with me," Jacob muttered out after my long silence.

"Jake, I would love to go with you. Thank you." I stated firmly, masking my pain.

"Really?" He smirked.

"Yup."

"That's great, um…" He licked his lips, in another bout of indecision. Then, he took a deep breath and started leaning his face towards mine. No, no, no. Was he going to kiss me? This would be my first kiss. I wasn't ready. I didn't want it to be with him. Could I stop it though? Should I stop it? He was so close…

"Hey, Jake. How's it going man?" Edward yanked Jacob away from me about a fraction of a second before our lips touched. I was thankful to be saved, but for the first time I wasn't exactly glad to see Edward. It felt like my heart was being gouged out, like it was punishing me for not being good enough for him.

"What the hell, Cullen?" Jacob was seething.

"Sorry man. I just need Bella for a bit. It's pretty urgent," Edward apologized, not even bothering to feign regret. He took my hand and led me out of the dorm and into the hallway.

"What's so urgent?" I asked, warming back up to him. He was still my best friend. It wasn't his fault that I was hopelessly in love with him.

"Getting you away from Black," He replied through gritted teeth and then thought for a bit.

"Why don't we go back to your dorm for a little while?" He asked me. He was such a strange boy.

"Or we could go to yours which is on the floor right under this and not four floors down." I smirked.

"Jasper and Alice are in our room," He stated uncomfortably.

"Never mind, my dorm it is," I replied understanding perfectly.

We reached my dorm, and shut the door to drown out the sound. I plopped down on my bed and he joined me sitting casually on the end. I took a good look at his costume for the first time and laughed.

"Okay, so you're supposed to be what? A goth kid with a bad haircut?" I chuckled.

"It was supposed to be Criss Angel but it didn't work out so well," He smirked sliding off the black wig to reveal his bronze locks. The small gesture had already made a vast improvement.

"I think the rest of you could take some Halloween lessons from Jasper," I admitted.

"Well, I'm sorry I didn't throw on some of my homemade lingerie," He teased me, smirking.

"This is hardly lingerie, Edward, it's a dress. Plus, no one makes lingerie themselves. It turns out horribly. Just skirts and dresses," I stated matter-of-factly.

"I'll keep that in mind next time I'm making some," He joked and lay down next to me. We both laughed and then there was silence.

"So are you mad at me for stealing you away from Jacob?" He asked turning his face to me.

"No, I didn't want to kiss him." I smiled turning my face to his. I gasped lightly. I hadn't realized how close we were till now. My lips were but inches away from the ones I so longed to taste.

"Hmm…Well, you know, kissing is actually quite a healthy practice for human beings. Studies show that kissing leads to a decline in cortisol levels in the blood in both males and females, which is directly associated with a decline in stress levels. In fact, over ninety percent of human societies practice kissing to-" I cut off his nervous nerd ranting.

"What are you saying, Edward?" I giggled.

"I'm saying, I'm really jealous and though I'm so fucking nervous, I wanted to make sure I did it first," He admitted, then took my face in both his hands and crashed his lips to mine.

I was in heaven. Pure, unadulterated euphoria flowed through my veins spreading liquid fire from my lips, to my toes. My lips danced in perfect synchronization with his as I moved one hand to tangle in his hair and the other to prop myself up against the bed. Our breathing quickened, coming out in erratic gasps and pants. His tongue pressed my lips begging for entrance. I enthusiastically complied, allowing his tongue in for exploration and allowing mine to battle with his. I couldn't care less if I was overeager or if this would shatter my heart later. I finally had within my grasp what I wanted more than anything in the world and I was taking it to the fullest. I gripped his shoulders, pushed him down into the bed, and straddled him.

We kissed until I was so lacking in oxygen that I would pass out any moment. I pulled away once he'd decided to slow down. I was still straddling him, using both hands on either side of him to prop me up. I stared down at him panting and shocked at what I had just done.

"Wow," He breathed heavily, staring up at me and obviously just as surprised at our actions as I was.

"I know, um…I don't know what came over me," I lied, knowing perfectly well that my actions were brought about from my extreme addiction to him. I wanted his lips to fully intoxicate me.

"Well, testosterone can be passed from men to women through the exchange of saliva, thus increasing a woman's sex drive," He stated, smirking back up at me.

"Ew, gross," I chuckled, sliding off of him and helping him sit up.

He turned to face me and took my hand, blushing lightly. I could feel the fire burning into my cheeks, as well.

"Bella, I-I was too nervous to ask you before, but would you…would you go to Ring Dance with me?" He let out the huge breath he was holding in.

At that question, my entire world came crashing down. Those words that about a half hour ago, I would have screamed the word 'yes' to caused my heart to die, break, and shatter. As desperately as I wanted to say yes to him and capture his lips in mine again, I couldn't. I wouldn't do that to Jake. I wouldn't crush his heart to selfishly save mine.

"Edward, you have no idea how much I want to say yes to you, but…I can't. I'm sorry, but…you're too late." I held back the tears as my heart screamed in agony. My words hammered its shards into dust.

"Too late?" He stuttered out, his expression strained.

"I already told Jacob I would go with him. I would have gone with you but…" His eyes lit on fire with envy.

"Just tell him that you can't go with him anymore," He said harshly.

"No, that's awful. You can reject someone when they ask you, but not after you've already agreed to go with them," I stated firmly. I thought he would understand.

"He'll get over it. He's a good looking guy. He'll find another date easily," He argued back.

"That's not the point and you know it!" I countered. I was angry now and he wasn't the only one with a bad temper.

"No, I don't know, Bella. I have no idea why you'd want to go to a dance with someone you claim not to like, but who's constantly flirting with you and can't keep his hands to himself!" That did it. I was furious now. Not only was he demanding I be completely rude to my friend, but he was also insulting Jacob right in front of me when he barely even knew him.

"Well you know what, Edward?! Maybe I've changed my mind!"

"What do mean?"

"I mean maybe I do like him back!" I snapped.

Edward just stared at me, eyes and mouth wide open. The pain and sorrow twisted into his features. He appeared as if I'd just told him he had a month to live. The worst part was that I'd caused him this pain, and the guilt immediately tortured me, ripping though my soul.

"Edward, I…"

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**A/N: Haha, mini-cliffie. ****Anyway, despite what I may have told some of you, Bella and Edward are now getting together in a different way than originally planned. The super romantic scene will now be placed at a different part of the story. Just an FYI; I know you probably don't care. Also if you want the next chapter out soon review! If I get 20 or more reviews, I'll make it my top priority. If I get less than that, it'll come out whenever I feel like it. Haha, bribery…**

**Thanks for Reading!**

**-Tetra**


	13. Mr Brightside

**A/N: Okay, I cannot express how sorry I am for not updating. I had the flu and I could barely move. When I wasn't writhing in pain I was living the most painfully busy week of the school year. Also, I started a new story that refused to shut up in my head. I am really sorry, please forgive me.**

**Disclaimer- Silly, Edward! Trix are for kids! Well... close enough.**

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I'm coming out of my cage

And I've been doing just fine

Gotta gotta be down

Because I want it all

It started out with a kiss

How did it end up like this?

It was only a kiss

It was only a kiss

-The Killers 'Mr. Brightside'

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Flashback:

"_Edward, I…" _

"_No, Bella, you're right. You go with Jacob. I was too late. Forget I ever said anything." Edward rose and turned his back to me, hiding his eyes and the burning man inside. He made his way to the door as I sat petrified on the bed. _

"_Wait! Edward," I called after him, as he twisted the doorknob and cracked the door open. Only his head turned, his emerald eyes a window to the suffering within. How could I heal him without backing down?_

"_I'm sorry, I…" _

"_Yeah, me too," He stated as he closed the door behind him. _

**End of Flashback**

I lay there on the bed where he left me, staring up at the ceiling and wondering how the most glorious moment of my existence had so deftly morphed into the worst. I wondered if for some reason I was not allowed to experience such joy, and that in order to counteract it, the heavens had gifted me with the greatest sorrow imaginable; the sorrow of a broken heart.

As I choked up the tears that stained my cheeks, I came to the realization of why people referred to this as a broken heart and not a dead one. It is because death is too peaceful and finite. The fire of the soul would extinguish like the single flame of a candle in a rainstorm. But that wasn't the case with my heart or the countless others who had shared in its misery. The fire in my soul had declared mutiny on the heart it once served, burning it alive as my heart sustained its eternal beating in torment. Broken, but most certainly not dead, because a heart could never die. Whether it stayed on earth after a body's death, or moved on to heaven or hell, it was the one part of a human being that would live on even in the most intangible way.

I briefly wondered how long I had been lying here, and then came to the conclusion that it didn't matter. I felt no pull to the outside world anymore. I just wanted to lay here and drown in my tears until death came for me.

I heard a brisk knocking on the door. I refused to answer and turned to face the wall, hugging my stuffed turtle, E.J. (Edward Jr.). Then I yanked my blanket over my eyes for the childish sense of protection it provided. Someone apparently didn't get my nonverbal message and burst through the door anyway.

"Bella, what did you do to him? Seriously, the worst I was going to do was castrate him," said the voice of Alice. I knew she was talking about Edward. I wasn't going to look at her though, as I was content wrapped in the blankets that shielded me from the outside world.

"Now's not the time for your sarcasm, Alice," I mumbled into the pillow.

"Bella, you're just as pathetic as he is. Get up and talk to me face to face. It's too late at night to deal with your games." I begrudgingly rose from my blanket haven and turned to glare at her with my tear-stained face and my mess of hair.

"What, Alice?" I spat. I couldn't deal with her nagging mere moments after my life had ended.

"Bella, you know very well 'what'. What the hell happened between you and Edward?! I haven't seen him this upset since Jas-…well anyway, I'm getting serious twin vibes so I need to know whose ass I need to kick."

"Will you shut up with the twin thing Al? It's his fault. Go tell him to stop being a jackass."

Alice sighed and ran her fingers through her ebony locks. Then she walked over to my bed, sat down, and pulled me into her strong, tiny lap. I felt like Santa Claus sitting on one of his elves.

"Bella," she began gently, "I really need to know what happened between my best friend and my twin brother. Can you just tell me the truth, honey? I know you're upset but I just want to help." Fresh tears fell from my eyes as I looked into her angelic amber ones. I just nuzzled my head into the crook of her bony neck. I didn't deserve her love.

After a deep breath, I recounted all of the night's events to her. She sat silently, concern plastered to her delicate features as she listened intently.

"So…that's it I guess," I finished. I despised reliving the experience, but I did feel slightly alleviated from getting it off my chest. I studied her as she bit her lower lip in deep contemplation. It was too silent. I wondered if she was disgusted by my words to her twin.

"So basically it's all his fault, but I still need to kick your ass for being a bitch. Correct?" Alice forced a half-smile.

"Yeah, I guess so." I nodded. I didn't have it in me to add the smile as Alice did.

"Oh, Bells, stop it! We'll fix this. You're acting like this is the end of the world." It was the end of mine at least.

"Well what am I supposed to do, Ali? Why is this so complicated for me?"

"Bella, I can't tell you what to do. The best suggestion I have would be to just go talk to him tomorrow and if he doesn't listen, then just wait it out. And love isn't just complicated for you, sweetie. Every couple has their problems. Just look as Rosalie and Emmett," she encouraged with a light chuckle.

"Yeah, well at least they are technically a couple! Edward and I aren't even dating and as soon as a good opportunity comes up for us we blow it. Besides, look at you and Jasper! You guys are perfect together. I just…I just wish I could have something like that," I whined as more tears fell. I couldn't be more pathetic.

"Is that what you really think, Bella? That my relationship with Jasper has always been this easy?" She spoke gently, but with a passionate fire behind her words. I simply nodded. There was obviously something I was unaware of.

"Bella, maybe Jasper and I make it look easy now, but it hasn't always been this way." She sighed. "You still don't know how we got together, remember?" I had completely forgotten their obvious resentment towards the issue. I'd been so caught up with my own problems that I'd completely disregarded those of others.

"Well, it's about time you knew anyway," she stated uncomfortably, averting her eyes.

I'd never seen Alice act so uncomfortably before, and it did nothing to ease the tension of the situation. She took a deep steadying breath and began.

"Okay, um…When we were all about three or four years old, Edward and I moved from L.A. to the suburbs just north of Phoenix. We met Jasper and we've all been friends ever since. Edward and Jasper became inseparable best friends, and for the longest time I felt like the third wheel because I was the girl. By the time we were thirteen, we'd gotten over the whole 'gender wars' phase and the three of us were all best friends again. The only problem was that once I'd realized Jasper didn't have cooties, I'd developed the hugest crush on him. I didn't even have a best girlfriend to talk to about it."

"For high school, Jasper's parents decided to send him to VCP and since Edward and I refused to be separated from him, we convinced our parents to let us go too. It was too late for Edward to share a dorm with him, but we didn't think it would really be a problem. Throughout our freshman year Jasper oddly started to distance himself from us. He'd never call us back and would make really lame excuses to not hang out with us…Edward and I eventually got so fed up with him that we just ignored him altogether."

"By summertime neither of us had really spoken to him in months and we'd both reluctantly accepted that our friendship with Jasper was over. It was just so hard though, because Edward had lost his best friend and I'd lost…well I know it's crazy because I was barely fifteen years old but…I felt like I'd lost the only boy I'd ever truly love. Crazy, I know, but that's the way it was. You shouldn't even know what love is at fifteen, but to this day I know I was right."

"In July," Alice gulped down the lump in her throat. She was trying her hardest not to cry but tears were too heavy. "In July, my mom received a phone call from my dad telling her to drive us down to the hospital immediately. I kept asking her what was going on, but she refused to tell me and insisted we wait for our dad to explain. When we got there, I was practically screaming for my dad when I saw him come out of the E.R. with tears on his face." Alice had lost control. Warm tears streamed with full force down her cheeks and her breathing came in erratic gasps. "He was_ crying,_ Bella! I've never seen my dad cry before!" she stuttered, crying into my shoulder now. "He sat Edward and me down and told us that Jasper was in the Emergency room because he had tried to commit suicide. Apparently, his mother had developed a drinking problem a few years back and his father had been arguing with her to go to rehab. Their fights often became so violent that it scared Jasper out of his mind and he'd never even told us!" Alice squealed, now lying on my bed from lack of strength. I lay down next to her, squeezing her tight and waiting for her to regain enough strength to continue. My brain was panicked. I had yet to accept the horrific words spilling from her lips.

"Jasper had been going through serious depression for the past year and had finally decided to kill himself during one of their bigger fights. He found a bottle of ibuprofen, swallowed all of it, and just waited for death," Alice stated in monotone, all life drained from her at this point.

"So what happened?" I questioned curiously in the smallest voice I had. I felt the light sensation of tears rolling down my cheeks.

"After a few hours he changed his mind and ran to his parents to confess so they could call 911. When they reached the hospital they pumped his stomach and wrapped his wrists to stop the bleeding. He started getting really sick though, and they weren't sure if they were too late. My father said that he'd requested to see Edward and me immediately to apologize just in case." Alice took a deep, steadying breath. "I'd never felt as useless as I did then, just staring down at him so broken and crying…wires attached to him everywhere vainly trying to save his life… I don't know how long it took, but I just sat there holding his hand for hours on end, convincing him that he would live and that I would never stop loving him…that I'd never let go," she stated bravely, in the strongest voice I'd ever heard.

"And he did," I finished for her.

"Yup. After that, his mother agreed to get help and so did he. I had my first kiss two months later." She blushed with a slightly solemn look still lingering in her eyes.

"And here you are now," I stated proudly.

She chuckled darkly. "Yes, here we are now. So you see, Bella. You aren't the only one with a hideous love life. Jasper may be stable now, but we still have our memories of darker times. Every time I see the scars on his forearms…Well, let's just say there's a reason he prefers long sleeves." I was shocked. Until now I'd never noticed his preference to long-sleeved shirts, but now it was so blatantly obvious. I was such a selfish, naïve, fool.

"Alice, why am I such an idiot?" I asked.

"I'm not sure, honey, but we can fix you. I promise," she stated holding me tightly. We lay there till the tears dried up, and exhaustion gifted us with dreamless sleep.

* * *

For the rest of the week, I sprang at every opportunity available to make amends with Edward. Much to my dismay, I was left fruitless each time. Edward either ignored me completely or argued with me further. I knew he was stubborn, but this was ridiculous.

By Friday, I was so sufficiently irritated with him that I had given up trying altogether. If he wanted to be friends again, then he was going to have to make the effort himself. It was his fault anyway. I was only doing him a kindness by taking initiative.

I was currently dressed in my nicest, least 'enhanced' uniform and standing in my place in line for the Ring Day ceremony. I was sweating bullets and fighting the butterflies as I listened to our class president, Eric Yorkie, give his speech. I scanned the audience trying to spot Charlie, who had been supportive enough to come all this way to see me. Though I'd intended to gain confidence by locating him, my plan backfired as I realized just how large our auditorium was and how many people were actually in attendance. Needless to say, I did not find Charlie and my nervousness only skyrocketed.

I directed my attention back to the stage as the rings were handed to each of my classmates in alphabetical order. I saw Alice receive her ring, then Edward. I watched his beautiful face as he proudly shook hands with the headmaster and Eric, then made his way down to the risers. He lifted his right hand and rested it over his heart, still gripping his ring in his strong fist.

I quickly reviewed the steps in my head as my turn approached. At last Angela (the senior class president) announced my name into the microphone. The motions felt robotic as they passed in slow motion. I made my way to center stage, then shook hands with Eric and the headmaster who dropped my ring into the palm of my right hand. I gripped the small piece of cold metal in my sweaty palm by my side as I stepped down the risers to my place. When I reached my spot, I lifted my fist to heart and waited.

When all of my classmates had received their rings we listened to Angela's speech and retelling of her ring day. I tried to listen, but my mind kept zoning out to thoughts of Edward and the white hot stage lights that blinded me. I forced myself to listen for her cue.

"Here we stand now, with lifelong reminders of who we are and what we stand for. As we place these rings of gold and sapphire on our fingers, be forever aware, my brothers and sisters, that true strength is not attained alone, but only through our friendships and memories," Angela ended.

I opened my fist and placed the shining ring on my right ring finger. It glittered back at me as I beheld its unique beauty. It was a mid-sized angular ring made of gold and inlaid sapphire. The school crest was engraved into the center, the school motto 'Ex Amicitia Vires' was carved into the left side, and the schools initials 'VCP 'were carved into right. I silently wondered how long ago the ring was designed. The school was practically ancient and I recalled how Rosalie had told me how her great-grandmother had passed down her ring to her.

I finally glanced up to my class. Many of the boys appeared bored while most girls were crying and embracing from pride. I glanced over to Edward who was standing next to Tanya. Apparently, she had insisted on putting each others rings on. I felt envy and hatred sear through my veins as she held his hand to slide his ring on. She refused to let it go and stood next to him beaming, holding his hand with pride. I'd never been so jealous in all my life. I saw him fleetingly glance my way to catch me and quickly glance back without a care. What really destroyed me, however, was when I saw him squeeze her hand back and reveal a proud grin of his own.

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**A/N: What happened to Jasper happened to someone very close to me and it was the first thing I thought of when I read about Jasper's scars in Eclipse. I don't mean to nag, but if you know anyone who may be struggling with depression please encourage them to find help. On a lighter note, the dance is next chapter and it will be a much better chapter than this one. Thank you all for your continued support. I really don't deserve it so I will not be begging for reviews this time (though they will still be highly appreciated :) ).**

**Thanks For Reading!**

**-Tetra**


	14. Sweetness

**A/N: For once, I have nothing to say other than I'm very nervous about this chapter.**

**Disclaimer- Don't own Twilight (Duh). 'Sweetness' isn't mine either.**

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Here I stood, observing the princess I had become in the mirror, quite satisfied with her exceptional beauty. Her mahogany tresses were pulled half up with a glittering barrette, leaving the rest to cascade down in shining curls. Her face was painted and powdered to flawless perfection with attention drawn to her ebony-lined chocolate eyes. A gown of sapphires spun to silk hugged her delicate curves and pooled to a silken ocean at her feet.

I'd never felt so glamorous in all my life. The transformations Alice had brought upon me in past few months never ceased to amaze me no matter how frequent they were. Even with the unrelenting apprehension I had towards the dance, I couldn't stop grinning at my reflection.

After the ring ceremony, Alice and I had met up with our parents briefly and then driven to the local day spa for our hair and makeup appointments. Currently, we were in our dorm room dressing and touching up for the dance.

"Bells, we gotta go or we won't have time for pictures! The guys are already outside. They're meeting us next to the limo," Alice commanded. I turned to hide my scowl from her. Alice's parents had insisted on renting a limousine for us to take to dinner and the dance. I thought it wholly unnecessary to go to such an effort when both the hotel and restaurant were in such close proximity to the school. That wasn't the worst part of it though. What I was dreading was the fact that we were forced to share it with Edward and his date.

"Coming, babe!" I grabbed my purse and Jacob's Boutonniere and we headed outside.

It wasn't difficult to locate them once we'd reached the parking lot. Though many other students had limousines waiting for them as well, ours stood out like a sore thumb. Quite literally actually, because Alice being Alice, had decided to utterly ruin my evening by insisting on a hot pink, stretch limousine.

"Alice, it looks like Pepto Bismol!" I shrieked in horror when I beheld the monstrosity in all its bubblegum likeness.

"Oh boohoo, Bella. You want to make a statement, don't you?" she questioned, skipping up to it.

_It's only one night, Bella. You'll be fine._

I reluctantly strolled up to join the others. I noticed that Edward and his date had not arrived yet and was glad for some breathing room. Emmett was helping Jasper and Jacob decorate the limousine with lime green car window paint, bringing it to further flamboyance. He had kindly agreed to see us off and take pictures since he was a senior and Rosalie was spending time with her grandmother this weekend. I smirked at his sophomoric attempt to fit the word 'Sweetness' on the rearview window.

Our Ring Dance theme for this year was the song 'Sweetness' by Jimmy Eat World. Instead of full blown themes, our school used songs instead. In my opinion, it works out nicely because we still have things to put on favors and memorabilia, but we don't have to dress up as Elvis or Princess Leia.

Jacob looked up from painting a 'Ring Dance' on one of the windows, a smiled as he took me in.

"Bella…You look great. Amazing really." He stuttered out.

"Thanks, Jake. You look very handsome tonight," I praised sincerely, with a smile. He truly did. He looked masculine and dashing in his tailored black tux. Not that I was surprised. He was one of the best looking guys I'd ever met.

"Oh, I know," he stated narcissistically with a sly grin. I rolled my eyes and pushed his shoulder, trying to hide a smile of my own.

"Oh, I got this for you!" Jacob stated suddenly, obviously just remembering something. He held out a tiny plastic box tied with red ribbon. Sitting inside was the most beautiful corsage I'd ever laid eyes on. It was made up of two large red roses, four white sweetheart roses, and baby's breath all tied together with royal blue ribbon to match my dress.

"Jake!" I squealed taking it from him for closer inspection. "It's absolutely beautiful!"

"Let me help you put it on." He grinned with pride. I held my left wrist out to him and he slipped the elastic band on. I could have easily done it myself, but a corsage so beautiful deserved to be donned the traditional way.

"I have your boutonniere. I'll pin it on you." I opened the tiny box and pulled it out. I then took a step closer to him and tried to pin it on. The task was much more challenging than I'd expected and was therefore more time consuming. I left my palms to rest on his chest after I'd finished and looked up to him.

"You know, you're not nearly as midgety with those heels on," he teased with a smirk. Before I could slap him he took me in a bone-crushing bear hug. I giggled incessantly as I struggled vainly for freedom. From behind me I heard strange noise halfway between a choke and a loud squawk.

I turned around to see a bug-eyed Edward, looking in our direction and choking on a soda with a hand clasped over his mouth. Even in such an awkward state, he was still breathtakingly handsome in his debonair tuxedo. It took all I had in me to not strangle Tanya who was clinging to his arm, staring sourly at him choking.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Tanya spat at him.

Edward cleared his throat. "Yes, I'm fine thank you," Edward replied sarcastically.

Tanya finally took notice of me and her mood improved exponentially. She plastered a syrupy grin on her face, death-gripped Edward's arm, and turned to face me.

"Eddie, dear," she cooed, "How's about you introduce me to all your lovely friends?" I gawked at her. As if we didn't already know her! She just wanted to rub her date in my face.

From the corner of my eye I spotted Alice, enraged and flustered behind Tanya. She struggling to have a go at her, but Jasper was calming restraining her.

"Tanya…You know everyone here. Jacob, Bella, and Alice are all on the cheerleading squad with you, Jasper's in half your classes, and Emmett's the basketball captain," Edward replied, confused. For such an intelligent boy, he was completely oblivious to the deceitful, unscrupulous ways in which girls fought and claimed their territory.

"Oh, Bella! That's right!" Tanya exclaimed with the mock ignorance of a child claiming she had forgotten to do her chores. "I completely forgot about you. I'm Tanya."

"Oh, I know who you are, Tanya," I seethed through a cement smile, "It's kind of hard not to notice you." The words were spoken so bitterly that even Edward seemed to taste the loathing in air.

"Well, that's so nice of you to say! I think we'll be great friends. Well, as long as you promise to stop hiding from me!" She threw her head back in the most ear-splitting fake giggle I'd ever heard. If I vomited, I'd make sure to 'accidentally' get some on her Jimmy Choo's.

"Oh, I won't!" I mock enthused.

"How about some pictures, guys?!" Emmett barged in, holding up his digital camera. Emmett hated arguments and awkward situations. We all headed to pose.

"As long as you start paying attention to anyone besides yourself…" I muttered in continuation, under my breath.

* * *

In a way, the ride to the restaurant was even worse than our initial meeting. Though the stretch limousine could comfortably seat up to thirteen and we were only six, Tanya insisted on sitting in Edward's lap anyway. It was as if she had no greater purpose in life than to dangle him in front of me. To stomp me into the dirt and lift herself up.

Throughout the entire ride, she incessantly complained about how the stash of liquor was locked up and time after time Edward would have to explain to her that we were underage. I knew she couldn't really be so ignorant if she was intelligent enough to be accepted into our school. She was simply feigning stupidity in an attempt to flirt to Edward. I'd never understood how a lack of intelligence could be a turn-on to men, but I found it disgraceful and highly irritating.

I did manage, however, to salvage three small fragments of happiness from the ride. The first was noticing that no matter how heavily Tanya flirted with Edward, he'd only reciprocate half-heartedly. It showed that her tasteless flirting was not always reliable. The second was that Edward would repeatedly glance over to me. It proved that he was still acknowledging my presence even though he didn't want to. The third and most satisfying, was faking an excellent time with Jacob. I knew it was a shallow thing to do to both Edward and Jacob, but the instant gratification was well worth it. Though I couldn't make out Edward's reactions, it still made me feel better to pretend I was just as over him as he was with me.

Currently, we were seated and eating our entrees at the swanky Italian restaurant, Bella Italia. Alice had chosen to dine here because the restaurant held 'Bella' in the name. I believed it a silly reason, but I decided to let her have fun.

I glanced up at the awkward situation before me. Tanya was staring fanatically at Edward, Edward was cutting his steak awkwardly, Alice was giving Tanya the evil eye, Jacob was ravenously devouring his food, and Jasper was consuming his meal calmly and politely. This was definitely not one of my better evenings.

"Bella, I need to use the bathroom. Would you like to join me?" Alice forced with the calmness and serenity of Cruella Deville.

"Well, I don't really-"

"Great! Let's go!" She cut me off. She gripped my wrist so hard it stopped the pulse and hauled me off to the bathroom, slamming the door behind us.

"I can't take it anymore!" Alice screeched. She was about to yank her hair, but then stopped when she remembered how expensive it was.

"Alice, how do you think I feel? You're his sister, but I lo- really like him!" I'd never revealed to her my love of her brother. It just felt so pathetic to love someone who didn't love you back, so I often repressed and denied my love for him. I was relieved to see that she was too frustrated to catch my slip.

"Bella, you don't know what she is, do you?" Alice asked, pointing her index finger at me.

"Um…a bitchy whore?" I answered. She half-smirked and let out a dead laugh at my uncharacteristic use of profanities. I didn't find it very amusing. Proper language is challenging to use when describing such an abomination.

"Yes, but more importantly, Tanya is Edward's first and only ex-girlfriend!" she revealed.

It felt as if someone of great strength had punched me in the stomach and cut off my oxygen supply. My jaw dropped as I saw the world fading around me. All the shades and hues of the bathroom melted into a hot, black, tar-like hell. I struggled to maintain consciousness by leaning over a sink and gripping it for stability. When I had finally calmed down, I felt the tingling presence of tears in my eyes. I wouldn't let them go though. I was sure that was what Tanya wanted.

"Wow. I didn't think it'd hit you that hard, Bells," Alice said with a mixture of concern and confusion contorting her face.

"Yeah, me neither." I let out a deep breath to hold back the tears. It was my fear that I'd be sobbing if I was forced to speak another word. I couldn't believe it. Tanya of all people was the huge freshmen year crush Alice had told me about. The one he'd dated. The one who made him stumble nervously over his own words. The one who'd beat me to him. Twice.

"Well, I mean, they're not dating or anything, Bella. I don't even really think they'll get back together. I just find her really irritating so I blew up. Really, it's not that big a deal," Alice ranted in attempts to soothe me. I could tell how greatly she wished to gobble up her previous revelation. The damage was done though. She was trying to paint white over black.

I simply nodded and patted my eyes dry. We waited till all evidence of a breakdown had faded away before we left the room.

* * *

The drive to the hotel was excruciating. I'd given up my flirting act and just sat quietly, staring at the floor. I could feel multiple pairs of eyes on me, but I never glanced up to know whose. A few times Jacob would rub my shoulder and ask me if I was alright. I would just give him a grateful smile and nod.

When we'd arrived at the hotel we checked in our bags quickly and posed for professional photographs. Afterwards, Alice pulled me into the ballroom with Jacob and Jasper following. I could tell she was eager to help me escape Tanya and Edward.

The ballroom was regal and lavishly decorated in our school colors. Wherever your eye fell you'd find streamers, balloons, confetti, or even bubbles from one of the multiple bubble machines. Half of the room was the designated dance floor which was already packed with dancing classmates led by a flamboyantly dressed DJ. The other half of the room held an abundance of deserted round tables with blue and green table cloths and a generous buffet.

"Will dancing get your mind off Edward and Tanya?" Alice whispered in my ear.

"Not really…" I admitted at normal volume.

Simultaneously, we spotted Edward and Tanya entering the ballroom and heading slowly in our direction.

"Let's Dance!" Alice exclaimed enthusiastically. She dragged both Jacob and me to the dance floor, while Jasper followed knowingly. Someone really needed to tell her that people could walk on their own without her help.

We spotted Leah and Maggie dancing near the center.

"Hey, girls! Where are your dates?" Alice asked as we all exchanged hugs.

"Pssh, I ditched Sam at the door and Maggie hasn't seen Liam for about twenty minutes now. Men. I swear if didn't need them to reproduce…" Leah complained crossing her arms.

"Dates are pretty much useless, anyway. You just need to have them in your pictures to show your grandkids one day," Maggie added rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, who needs 'em!" Alice agreed, punching her fist into the air. Jasper cleared his throat.

"Oh sorry, Jazz. You're an exception." She blushed and pecked his cheeked while the rest of us chuckled.

* * *

Dancing really was a good way to alleviate the stress of a broken heart. I danced, jumped, and sang with my friends the entire time, only stopping for drinks and oxygen when absolutely necessary.

I had long since forgiven myself for accepting Jacob's invitation. Though I was fairly certain I would have enjoyed myself more with Edward, Jacob was an excellent friend and the next best thing.

The dance was ending in less than ten minutes and Jacob was holding me in his arms as we swayed to a slow song. I loathed slow songs because they would always lead my mind to Edward; the place it was trying to escape. Though I was pleading myself to stop, I would betray myself and poke my head up every so often to search for him. I tried to do it inconspicuously, but Jacob finally caught me.

"What are you doing, Bells?" Jacob chuckled and smirked lightly. I could see a bit disappointment and understanding in his warm, brown eyes.

"Nothing, just…seeing where Alice was," I lied.

"You don't like me do you, Bella?" Jacob's question was presented as more of a statement.

"Of course I like you, Jake!" I feigned innocence.

"You know what mean, Bella." Jacob raised his eyebrow and stared down at me, trying to hold my gaze.

"No…I don't," I admitted, looking down with a sigh.

He said nothing, but I could sense his disappointment and understanding. I was glad to feel no anger. He truly was a great guy. I titled my head back up to meet his gaze.

"Jake, I'm so sorry. Really, I don't know why you'd waste your time with someone like me. You're smart and funny and caring and…well you already know your like the hottest guy on campus, right?"

"Naturally," he teased with a conceited smirk, even in his disappointment.

"Well, I don't think you need anymore ego inflation. My point is that you're awesome and you know it. You can have anyone you want. I'm just…" I trailed off.

"It's Cullen, isn't it?" Jacob asked, fully aware of how right he was.

"Yeah," I sighed in admittance. I stared into his warm eyes for quite some time. It seemed as if he was studying me, reading me like a book. At last he smiled down at me.

"Well what are you waiting for? Go get him!" he encouraged with his usual teasing smirk. My eyes grew to the size of saucers and my jaw came unhinged.

"Wha-No! Jake, I came here with you. You're my friend and I made a commitment to be your date."

Jacob glanced behind him to check the large clock on the back wall. It was eleven fifty-five.

"Well according to that clock, you've kept your commitment and then some. Better find him now if you want your last dance, Bells. Meanwhile, I think I'll find Miss Leah Clearwater who wasn't so adamant about her commitment…" Jacob smirked with a big wink. When my brain finally registered his words, I gasped.

"Jake, you're awesome!" I gave him a quick, but meaningful hug and raced to find Edward. I no longer cared if he would rebuff my apologies. I was free as a bird and I needed to let him know of the feelings that burst from my heart. I couldn't let the greatest happiness in my world slip through my fingers into the palms of that demon, Tanya. I had to try. I had to tell him the truth.

I pushed my way through sweaty bodies of my classmates but I couldn't find Edward anywhere. Then, I heard the DJ come onto the microphone.

"Alright, VCA, this is the last song of the night," said the DJ. Boos and whines filled the room.

"I know, I know. I saved the best for last though. Are you ready for the sweetness?!" he yelled enthusiastically. The crowd roared with cheers and applause. The song was played once before at the halfway mark and now again to close the dance. People pumped and waved their ring hands in the air as the song began.

_If you're listening (Whoa,oh,oh,oh,oh,oh)_

People began singing along at the top of their lungs. I needed to find Edward, now._  
_

_Sing it back (Ah,oh,oh,oh,oh,oh)  
_

I pushed and shoved through the mass, my head frantically twisting to search._  
_

_String from your tether unwinds  
(string from your tether unwinds, uh oh, uh oh)  
Up and outward to bind  
(Up and outward to bind, uh oh, uh oh)_

At last, I spotted bronze hair. _His_ bronze hair. On the other side of the dance floor…_  
_

_I was spinning free (Whoa,oh,oh,oh,oh,oh)  
with a little sweet and simple numbing me  
_

I began running and stumbled in my heels. I looked down at them, quickly ripped them off, and left them. Alice would slit my throat later.

_  
Are you listening? (Whoa,oh,oh,oh,oh,oh)  
Sing it back (Ah,oh,oh,oh,oh,oh)  
So tell me what do I need (tell me what do I need, uh oh, uh oh)  
When words lose their meaning (When words lose their meaning)  
_

I sprinted towards him. He was so close now that I could see his features twisted in annoyance. Tanya was dancing with two other guys. I'd kick her ass later.

_I was spinning free (Whoa,oh,oh,oh,oh,oh)  
with a little sweet and simple numbing me _

"Edward!" I screamed. He couldn't hear me over the music and singing.

_  
Yeah, stumble til you crawl (Whoa,oh,oh,oh,oh,oh)  
Sinking into sweet uncertainty_

I'd finally reached him and I gripped his shoulders. He stared down at me in shock. "Bella?" He gasped.

Are you listening? Are you listening?  
If you're listening (Whoa,oh,oh,oh,oh,oh)

"Yes, you idiot! I came to apologize. I don't like Jacob. I like you! I was just faking it!" I blurted out at the top of my lungs.

_  
If you're listening, Are you listening?  
Sing it back (Ah,oh,oh,oh,oh,oh) _

"R-Really?!" He said in shock. I felt like slapping myself. Was it not painfully obvious?

_  
If you're listening, Are you listening?_

"Yes! You mean everything to me. The happiest moment of my life was when you kissed me!" He looked at me in utter confusion. He didn't like me back. He didn't want me…

_  
I'm still running away  
I'm still running away, uh oh, uh oh_

Suddenly, a look of pure relief and joy plastered itself on his face. "You wanna know the happiest moment of my life?" he choked out. It was my turn to stare in shock.

_  
Won't play your hide and seek game  
I was spinning free (Whoa,oh,oh,oh,oh,oh)_

"When you just spoke those words to me," he said as he lifted my face to his, locking us in an overdue kiss.

_  
With a little sweet and simple numbing me  
What a dizzy dance (whoa,oh,oh,oh,oh,oh)  
_

All too soon he broke his lips free of mine. "I'm so sorry," Edward said shaking his head.

_This sweetness will not be concerned with me_

"You better be," I teased with a smirk. I pressed my lips to his in a kiss of pure sweetness as lights came on and the clock struck twelve.

_No the sweetness will not be concerned with me_

* * *

**A/N: I strongly dislike this chapter for some reason. It worked out perfectly in my head, but I felt that it became weaker in writing. I may re-write in the future if it still irks me. Anyway, I know that this chapter was a bit cliche(maybe thats why it bothers me?) but don't be too hard on me. It will be much more interesting when they confess their love (all planned out already). Next chapter is the start of basketball season, I think...Anyway, please review. Reviews make me smile and my life kind of sucks right now. **

**IMPORTANT!: I have added a poll about changing this chapter to my profile. PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD VOTE!**

**Thanks for reading!**

**-Tetra**


	15. My Life Would Suck Without You

**A/N: I'm not dead! I'm so sorry. *Cry*.This story will continue as planned now. I was just having such a hard time writing this b/c I felt like the story as a whole wasn't good enough. Anyway, I sucked it up and decided that if people are still reading it, that it must be worth something. so whatever...I'll stop my perfectionistic (is that a word?) moping now. **

**Disclaimer- Steph Meyer, Kelly Clarkson, blah blah blah own this.**

_Boyfriend_.

I'd never realized the peculiarity of the word until now. Yes, Edward could still technically pass for a boy at seventeen. And yes, I could never deny a friendship with him. But the word itself just seemed…lacking to me.

As pathetic as it made me feel, Edward was my everything. Not a minute could pass that I wouldn't think about him, or talk about him. Not a day could go by without my seeing him and kissing him.

And it was never enough either. I was convinced that I'd never be truly satisfied unless I could spend every minute of everyday, simply cuddling in his strong arms. The arms I fit perfectly into, I might add…Yes, I was indeed pathetic.

"Are you ready?" Edward asked me sweetly, as he kissed my forehead.

In order to make up for his stupidity last week, Edward was making all my favorite dinners for the rest of the week. I'd tried my hardest to convince him that it was unnecessary -that I couldn't stay mad at him- but he wasn't buying it. He wouldn't even let me help. Not that I was a great cook anyway.

But it _was _a nice break from eating out every night. And since students hardly ever used the communal kitchenettes on every other floor of the dormitories, it was a quiet place to eat together.

"Yes, baby," I cooed back, staring dreamily at him.

Then my cheeks heated heavily at realization of what I'd just said. Wow. That even disgusted me. I sound like an idiot around him now! Alice would vomit if she ever heard that.

"Way to make me vomit in my mouth, guys," Alice whined, as she entered the kitchen and opened the freezer. She pulled out an frosty Asian-style lean cuisine and removed a pink post-it note from the box stating 'Property of Alice Cullen'.

"As opposed to what, Alice? Vomiting out your ear?" Edward replied coolly, crossing his arms.

Alice chuckled as she popped her dish into the microwave. I heard a few faint _beep-beeps_ as she set it on high. She then spun lithely around and stuck her 'Property of Alice Cullen' post-it to his forehead.

"I don't know, _baby_. You tell me. _You're so smart and cute and dreamy. Your mommy must have dipped you in sugar when you were born!_" Alice mocked in the baby voice I'd used, as she pinched his cheek and kissed his nose. He still had the post-it on his forehead and was trying to act angry, but was blushing heavily from embarrassment. It was so cute I had to laugh, even though Alice was making fun of us and our 'Honeymoon Phase', as she referred to it.

"So…Whatcha' doin'?" Alice asked, as she made herself comfortable at the small table. She kicked her feet up and leaned back, taking a raucous slurp out her cherry coke.

"I'm making Bella dinner." Edward glared at Alice, who smirked back. Alice was fully aware that she was interrupting our dinner and thought it dreadfully hilarious. Demon pixies and their pastimes…

"Aww…Nerd food!" Alice teased.

Suddenly, some kind of loud crash pulled us all out of our own little world. Our heads simultaneously snapped over to the microwave where Alice's lean cuisine had, quite obviously, exploded.

"Gah!" Alice squeaked as she ran over to her smoking meal that now coated the inside of the microwave. _Yummy._

"Ugh! Cooking is so hard! No wonder no one cooks at this school," Alice ranted angrily as she plopped what was left of her meal into the trash and started to clean out the inside of the microwave. Edward and I chuckled at her.

"Hey, what's so funny?" Alice growled.

"Sorry, babe. It's just that I think Lean Cuisine hardly constitutes as 'cooking'," I said as I stifled as laugh. Alice simply glared at me and sat down with a huff.

"Well, what are you losers eating?" Alice spat. She gets more charming by the day.

"Edward's making me macaroni and cheese with cut up hotdogs," I said slightly embarrassed.

"That's actually her second favorite food too. Tomorrow I'm making her favorite; grilled cheese and tomato soup with goldfish crackers." Edward smiled at me.

"No peanut butter and jelly, Bells?" Alice teased with giggle.

"Oh no. That was Monday," Edward chuckled as he stirred in the cheese.

"Well, at least I'm not insisting on the rainbow goldfish!" I tried to defend myself, though I hoped we'd have them anyway.

"That is true," Alice said pointing her finger. "Edward, give me some of that macaroni before you put dead animal on it."

"Why should I?" Edward whined. Aw, my poor baby…_Dammit, Bella_.

"Bella…" Alice nudged my ankle with her perfectly pedicured foot. I sighed.

"Edward, give her some food please." He sighed dramatically, but slammed a bowl of macaroni on table for her anyway.

"Thank you." Alice smirked.

"I would've spit in it if Bella wasn't here, you know," Edward replied as he joined us at the table with two more bowls.

"Yeah, I'd just spit in your pudding cup when you're not looking," Alice coughed and whispered. "Again…"

"What did you say?" Edward asked confused, his mouth full.

"Nothing! Crazy boy!" Alice blurted. "So…official now, are we?"

"Since Monday, Al. And don't act like you don't already know." I blushed and couldn't stop smiling. I looked over to Edward who smirked back at me knowingly. I felt my blush deepen.

It was so strange, being this open about my feelings for him. I was constantly doused with comfortable awkwardness that tickled my ribcage and warmed my cheeks.

"I know. I'm just so happy for you guys. Even if you are sickening…" She smirked.

"Oh my heavens! What a surprise, Rosalie. Our dear friends Edward, Bella, and Alice." Emmett walked in, feigning surprise. Rosalie just rolled her eyes.

"Emmett, what are you doing here?" Edward shut his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Ah, Alice invited us over to annoy-" Rosalie nudged him. "I mean _enjoy_ the new couple!" Emmett smirked, making himself comfortable. He popped a hotdog chunk in his mouth and licked the grease off his thumb and index finger.

"Where's Jazz?" I asked, accepting that my romantic dinner was never meant to be.

"Practice. They just got another gig down at the Panic Room for sometime later this month. I can't go though. We have a game that night." Alice sighed.

I was instantly relieved that I'd be able to avoid returning to the club for now. Especially if it was another 'vampire night'.

"Speaking of games…" Emmett's eyes sparkled mischievously like those a naughty child.

"Here it comes…" Edward chuckled.

"Sharks Shave Game!" Emmett sang.

Rosalie bit her lip.

"Shave?" I asked confused.

"Yes, Sharks-Shave-Game-virgin. Shall I spin the tale?"

I nodded and to my surprise, everyone else let out a groan.

"I'll do the abridged version." Emmett held out his palms defensively. Rosalie and Alice rolled their eyes, but he ignored them.

"Long, long ago…when our school was first built…" Emmett started in what he considered a mystical tone.

"Abridged, babe." Rosalie sighed.

"I am telling the abridged version." He pouted. Rosalie cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Fine," he sighed and turned towards me. "Bella, you know the Roland Academy Sharks, right? The school we're playing for our first game?"

I nodded, with a gulp. Our first game was on Friday and the butterflies were already fluttering in the pit of my stomach.

"Well pretty much since our schools were built-and that's a long time ago-we've been rivals. We kick off every basketball season playing them first. As you can imagine, the first game is always very competitive. It'll be even worse this year because we won against them in the championship game last year. But that's not why this game is so awesome," Emmett raised his hands dramatically.

"Then why?" I asked, knowing he wanted me to.

"Because, this game is all about tradition!" Emmett slammed his fist down to the wooden table dramatically. "Back in the 1960s, the basketball captains of both schools made a bet. The captain of the losing team would shave his head. We won and it has been a traditional bet each year since. Sure the headmasters tried to stop us; they changed the dates of our first games, threatened detention…but eventually they gave up because we'd never stop."

"You're gonna shave your head?" I asked incredulously. Rosalie was biting her fingernails at the idea of having a bald boyfriend.

"If we lose," He shrugged. "But I don't think that'll be a problem. We haven't lost the shave game since I joined in my sophomore year. I've been working the guys to the bone. Right, Eddie boy?" Emmett smirked at Edward, who growled back at him with narrowed eyes.

"You won't be blaming me so much when your captain next year. You'll do the same thing. I don't think Bella would appreciate you shaving your head. Come to think of it, we'd be seeing a lot of weeping freshman and sophomore girls. I can see it now on the front page of the school paper; Edward Cullen's haircut causes mass suicide!" Emmett laughed hysterically.

"We don't know for sure that I'll be captain…" Edward stated humbly, with a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

"Yes we do." Alice, Rosalie, and Emmett, stated simultaneously.

* * *

"Alice, are you sure this is the right size? It seems a little short," I said fidgeting with the hem of my mini-skirt, praying that my incessant yanking would somehow add a few inches of length.

The new cheerleading uniforms had just arrived in time for the opening game tomorrow, and we were all trying them on in the dreary locker-room. Though the tightness of the uniform was not an issue, I felt overly exposed from lack of material. All that shielded me from the world was a tight shell top that ended at the bottom of my ribcage and a barely-there mini-skirt.

"Are your cheeks covered?" Alice questioned, knotting the laces of white cheerleading sneakers.

"Well technically, I suppose. If I bend over though, not so much."

Alice turned to look at me with a quizzical expression and smirked.

"Well it may be a little long, but I think you're fine," Alice confirmed. I pouted and crossed my arms.

"You're wearing spankies, Bella. It's not like you're goin' commando or anything," Alice soothed but I could tell she still found humor in my distress.

"They're sparkly!" I complained. It didn't alleviate the tension to remind me that my bottom would be covered by green metallic, sparkly granny panties.

"Which makes them even more fun!" Alice grinned.

I rolled my eyes at her childish reasoning. Unfortunately, it directed my gaze to the girl who was slowly transforming from an occasional nuisance to the bane of my existence; Tanya.

I inspected her self-consciously from afar as she garbed her lean, muscular body in her new uniform. I felt a light flush stain my cheeks as I scrutinized her Hollywood beauty. She was so sexy and flawless with her shining strawberry blonde waves and icy blue eyes. It seemed to me that her overwhelming sex-appeal could only be rivaled by the goddess-like features of Rosalie. Every boy within a ten mile radius seemed to fall drooling to the siren's feet without an effort on her part.

But she didn't want any of those boys. At least not for longer than a night. She wanted the ones that she couldn't have; Emmett, the head cheerleader's boyfriend, who also happened to be the basketball captain; Jasper, the rebellious and intuitive rocker who'd fallen head over heels for his best friend; and finally Edward, my new boyfriend.

I could understand her lusting after Emmett and Jasper, but why Edward? Sure he was handsome, smart, athletic, and honestly, too good for anyone at this school, but her obsession with him was new to say the least.

In my first few months at this school, I'd only caught glimpses of her from time to time outside of practice. The past two weeks, however, I've been seeing her constantly.

And with who?

Edward.

It just didn't seem right. Now that I've finally confessed - most of- my feelings for Edward, and I'm finally happy, she shows up. Shows up _two years_ after ditching him.

Maybe I'm overreacting…

"Ah, it's your favorite person, Bells," Alice teased, knocking me out of my thoughts. "Wanna go talk to her?!" she quickly added, with a conniving grin.

"Let's not be devious today, Al." I sighed.

"Ah, why not?" Alice's face dropped. She scrutinized my hastily masked nonchalant expression. "What's wrong now, pumpkin?"

I didn't answer.

"C'mon, sweetie. Did she say something to you? I'll kick her ass." Alice sat on the changing bench and patted the spot next to her.

"No, but…why would Edward choose me over her?" I spoke to the floor as I took a seat.

"Bella," Alice sighed. "I could go on and on about why I believe Edward chose you. I could tell you how cute and sweet and smart you are, but that's not what a best friend does."

"What does a best friend do?" I frowned in confusion.

"She tells you you're a dumb ass." Alice smiled cheekily.

"Thanks, Al," I said dryly, as I started to pack my things into my gym bag.

"Oh, and Bella?"

"Yeah?"

"I'd postpone your self-judgment until _after_ you see Edward's reaction to your uniform."

Here comes the blush…

* * *

**A/N: So yeah...Not the best chapter in the world, but it starts things up again right? Right. Again, those who still love me raise your hand...or review b/c I can't see your hand...Go with that one.**

**I love you forever,**

**Tetra**

* * *


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